§ 58-2-811 — Acts or omissions - Vicarious liability - Recovery of damages - Participation in retirement system

(a) Subject to subsection (b), volunteer health practitioners authorized to provide health services pursuant to this part are not liable for the payment of a judgment based on their acts or omissions in providing services, nor shall they be named as defendants in an action based on their acts or omissions. (b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), this section does not apply to: (1) Willful, wanton, grossly negligent, reckless, or criminal conduct of, or an intentional tort committed by, a volunteer health practitioner; or (2) An action brought against a volunteer health practitioner: (A) For damages for breach of contract, other than for contracts related to the provision of health or veterinary services; (B) By a source or host entity; or (C) Relating to the operation of a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft, or other vehicle by a volunteer health practitioner for which this state requires the operator to have a valid operator's license or to maintain liability insurance, other than an ambulance or other emergency response vehicle, vessel, or aircraft operated by a volunteer health practitioner responding to a request for health services or transporting a patient. (c) Source, coordinating, and host entities are not vicariously liable for the acts or omissions of volunteer health practitioners in providing health services authorized pursuant to this part. (d) Source, coordinating, and host entities are not liable for civil damages for the operation of, or reliance upon information provided by a registration system, unless the acts or omissions constitute an intentional tort or are willful, wanton, grossly negligent, reckless, or criminal in nature. (e) Notwithstanding subsection (a), for purposes of recovering damages from the state, volunteer health practitioners shall be considered volunteer state employees under § 8-42-101(3)(B) for purposes of § 9-8-112 , for the purposes of recovering damages from the states based on their acts or omissions in providing health services pursuant to this part. The registration of individual volunteer health practitioners with the board of claims required under § 8-42-101(3)(B) shall be made by the registration system under which the volunteer health practitioner was registered; provided, however, that nothing in this part shall authorize any volunteer health practitioner's participation as a member of the Tennessee consolidated retirement system, unless the practitioner was a member at the time the emergency was declared.

Legislative History

Acts 2007, ch. 579, § 12.