Every member of any committee, board, group, commission, or other entity established pursuant to federal or state law or regulation which functions to authorize, review, evaluate, or make recommendations on the nature, conduct, activities, or procedures involved in or related to programs or research protocols conducted under the supervision of members of the faculty or staff of any hospital or institution of higher education, including but not limited to the design or conduct of experiments involving human subjects, shall be immune from civil liability for any act, decision, omission, or utterance done or made in performance of such duties as a member of such committee, board, group, commission, or other entity, unless such act, decision, omission, or utterance is done or made in bad faith or with malicious intent or unless the member, when acting to authorize the nature, conduct, activities, or procedures involved in or related to a program or research protocol, knows or reasonably should know that the program or research protocol is being or will be conducted in violation of Chapter 5.1 (§ 32.1-162.16 et seq.) of Title 32.1. However, the immunity created herein shall not apply to those persons engaged in the actual conduct of the programs or research protocols.
§ 8.01-44.1.Immunity from civil liability of members of certain committees, etc.
Chapter 3. Actions · Article 3. Injury to Person or Property · Last amended 1992 · Last verified July 16, 2026
In one sentenceShields members of hospital or university committees, such as institutional review boards that authorize, review, or evaluate research protocols and human-subjects studies, from civil liability for oversight decisions, unless they acted in bad faith or malice or knowingly approved a protocol violating Virginia’s human-research-protection law, and the immunity never reaches researchers conducting the program.
Full Text of § 8.01-44.1
Plain-English Summary
Every member of a committee, board, group, commission, or other entity established under federal or state law or regulation to authorize, review, evaluate, or make recommendations on programs or research protocols conducted under the supervision of hospital or higher-education faculty or staff — including the design or conduct of experiments involving human subjects — is immune from civil liability for any act, decision, omission, or utterance made in performance of duties as a committee member.
That immunity has two exceptions: it does not cover an act, decision, omission, or utterance done in bad faith or with malicious intent, and it does not cover a member who, in authorizing a program or protocol, knows or reasonably should know that the program or protocol is being or will be conducted in violation of Chapter 5.1 of Title 32.1, Virginia’s human-research-protection provisions. Even where the immunity applies, it never extends to persons engaged in conducting the programs or research protocols — only to the oversight committee’s own members.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of committee does this immunity apply to?
A committee, board, group, commission, or other entity established under federal or state law or regulation that authorizes, reviews, evaluates, or recommends on programs or research protocols, including human-subjects research, conducted under hospital or higher-education faculty or staff supervision.
Does this immunity protect the researchers conducting the study?
No. The immunity created by this section does not apply to persons engaged in the conduct of the programs or research protocols.
When does a committee member lose this immunity?
When the act, decision, omission, or utterance was done in bad faith or with malicious intent, or when the member knew or reasonably should have known that a program or protocol being authorized violated Chapter 5.1 of Title 32.1.
What does it mean for a member to have “known or should have known” a protocol violated the law?
The exception applies specifically when a member, in acting to authorize the nature, conduct, activities, or procedures of a program or protocol, knew or reasonably should have known it was being or would be conducted in violation of Virginia’s human-research-protection provisions in Chapter 5.1 of Title 32.1.
Does this immunity cover only decisions, or also things a member says while serving on the committee?
It covers any act, decision, omission, or utterance made in performance of the member’s duties on the committee.
Amendment History
1980, c. 479; 1981, c. 40; 1992, c. 603.
Source & verification. Section text and amendment history are
reproduced verbatim from the Code of Virginia, published by the
Code of Virginia, Virginia Division of Legislative Automated Systems. Last verified July 16, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: virginia institutional review board immunity8.01-44.1 research committee civil liabilityhospital research committee immunity virginia lawhuman subjects research oversight immunity virginiairb member liability protection virginia code