In 2004, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Aetna Health, Inc. v. Davila, 542 U.S. 200 (2004) that people cannot pursue claims for their noneconomic losses against health maintenance organizations in state court since HMOs are governed by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act or ERISA. Instead, people can only sue HMOs in federal court, and they are unable to recover money for their noneconomic losses in federal claims against HMOs under ERISA. During that year, Arizona similarly limited injured victims from filing malpractice lawsuits against HMOs.
Under A.R.S. § 36-3205, there are several circumstances in which a health care provider will be immune from liability for an injury to a patient, including the following:
The medical professional did not follow a directive that violated his or her conscience when he or she promptly informed the patient and transferred the patient's care to someone else who was willing to follow the directive; or
The medical professional was relying on a court's order regarding the patient; or
The medical professional made a reasonable effort to contact a disabled or incapacitated patient's guardian or agent but was unable to reach him or her; or
An emergency existed that didn't give the medical professional enough time to find and talk to the incapacitated patient's guardian or agent.