Folks, the effort has paid off.?
The lawyers at UF, once properly appraised of the NUMBER of volunteers working on this, have an extremely strong liability and legal defense coverage for any volunteers who are ACKNOWLEDGED FORMALLY AS VOLUNTEERS.? ?The University of Florida is not a manufacturing facility; we are a healthcare medical school (Plus liberal arts, etc) -- and your expertise, incorporated into a ventilator, should it be used on patients at our hospital -- you will not onlly have coverage, you would have legal defense, and yoiu cannot even be sued individually? ?THIS is the coveraaage that I *always* had as a physician working for them for 30 years, that ALL their employees have, and that now YOU will enjoy.? If you are on the attached list of formal volunteers.
ATTENTION SQUAGLE:? ?We cannot provide coverage for you without your NAME and where you live.? ?So please provide that or we can't provide coverage for you -- it is your choice, we can't FORCE you to identify yourself of course.??
ATTENTION THOSE REQUIRING INDEMNIFICATION:? ? ?The University of Florida is prevented by law from providing you with Indemnification.? ?So that will not happen for you.? ? Just letting you know the message from the lawyer.? ?The protection for acknowledged volunteers is EXTREMELY STRONG in my opinion --- it has many layers that are almost impenetrable.? ?I never worried in my career when covered by that protection.??
NOW -- for the REST OF THE WORLD:? ?There are carefully worded disclaimers on the University of florida CSSALT page on this design that explain to potential builders, manufacturers etc outside of University of Florida --- you are welcome to use the information; you have no warantee, no coverage, NOTHING from UF.? ?And of course that is as it should be.? ?IF we are successful (with the hellp of all these volunteers about to be acknolwedged, hopefully before NOON EDT today) at getting an FDA EUA -- *then* other manufacturers will likely have a TON EASIER TIME getting one for THEIR project as well.? ? ?
This is a very positive outcome, and I appreciate greatly Dan D'Alesio (UF Lawyer) who immediately recognized the concern and immediaately found ways to cover these volunters -- and also many of you who have proivately or publicly given me crucial advice to search for this coverage.? ?So I expect to be fully operational again for UF within a couple of hours.
See the attached document filed with Dr. Gravenstein of UF last night for the list of volunteers about to be acknowledged.
