Covid-19 and medical negligence litigation: Immunity for healthcare professionals?

Duignan, Kieran; Bradbury, Chloe

doi:10.1177/0025817220935892

Cited by 13 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…As a consequence, the pandemic has several interesting medico-legal implications, due to the lack of preparedness and the failure to promptly adopt effective prevention and control measures for COVID-19 in many countries (including many highly-developed countries) and hospitals [2] . Therefore, issues have arisen globally regarding the legal liability of healthcare institutions and professionals for avoidable errors 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 . Particularly during the first wave of pandemic in Italy, the lack of hospital/intensive care unit (ICU) beds prompted the government to reallocate COVID-19 patients to long-term care facilities (LTCF).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Claimed medical malpractice in fatal SARS-CoV-2 infections: the importance of combining ante- and post-mortem radiological data and autopsy findings for correct forensic analysis

et al. 2021

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Claimed medical malpractice in fatal SARS-CoV-2 infections: the importance of combining ante- and post-mortem radiological data and autopsy findings for correct forensic analysis

et al. 2021

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“…During this particular pandemic, several countries have contemplated creating a legal shield that limits the professional liability of healthcare personnel throughout this emergency situation [ 20 , 21 ]. More specifically, in March 2020, pending the approval of the Cura Italia Decree, certain amendments were issued stipulating that a healthcare worker shall be held liable only if the alleged harm caused to the patient is caused directly by malicious misconduct or gross negligence, where gross negligence represents an unjustified violation of the basic principles that govern the healthcare profession or of any emergency protocols established to handle the situation [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. Furthermore, it was feared that various profiles of liability may ensue in connection with the following scenarios: Lack of or reduced ability to care for and treat infected patients due to the insufficiency of available resources, which has contributed to causing harm or patient death.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Take-Home Messages from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Strengths and Pitfalls of the Italian National Health Service from a Medico-Legal Point of View

et al. 2020

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The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As of the end of October 2020, there were 50 million cases of infection and over one million deaths recorded worldwide, over 45,000 of which occurred in Italy. In Italy, the demand for intensive care over the course of this pandemic crisis has been exceptionally high, resulting in a severe imbalance between the demand for and availability of the necessary resources. This paper focuses on elements of preventive medicine and medical treatments in emergency and non-emergency situations which, based on the international scientific literature, may prove to be useful to physicians on a behavioral level and avert professional liability problems. In order to achieve this objective, we have performed a search on MEDLINE to find published articles related to the risks associated with the pandemic that contain useful suggestions and strategies for mitigating risks and protecting the safety of the population. The results have been collocated in line with these specific study areas.

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“…Should immunity be granted only for specific cases (Duignan & Bradbury, 2020)? Immunity is the establishment of a form of protection against specific risks.…”

Section: Some Of the Problems That Professional Immunity Raisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For how long should immunity be granted (Duignan & Bradbury, 2020)? The answer is given by the indication of need to apply the graduality and proportionality principles, as they solve a good part of the problems.…”

Section: Some Of the Problems That Professional Immunity Raisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Physicians Professional Immunity in the COVID-19 Pandemic. Problems and Solutions

Rotilă

2021

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In this article, by professional immunity we refer to limitation of liability to the specific pandemic context, respectively to the concrete possibilities of diagnosis, treatment, care and too few degrees of professional freedom still available. The relevance of one or another of the limitation measures of professional liability depends on the specific legal context of each community. Our thesis is that, regardless of the form of transposition into practice, a form of health professionals protection, such as professional immunity is necessary. From the multitude of possible protection measures, each state can select the appropriate ones. The need for specific measures for professional immunity is not identical in each state, depending on the specifics of the legal system, social values, measures characteristics taken to combat the pandemic, the degree of transparency of each healthcare system, the level of bioethical principles influence. However, this need doesn`t start from "no measure", the appropriate minimum level of protection seemingly to constitute a patient compensation no-fault model, plus the characteristics of the professional immunity, designed to adapt liability to specific conditions. The main problem in the absence of professional immunity is the risk of transferring the cost of ignorance, visible, in the inadequate expectations of medical science, on healthcare professionals, the limits of scientific knowledge risking to be reinterpreted as medical fault. The COVID-19 pandemic has somehow forced an additional step towards broadening discussions on universal human rights, being forced to consider ways of putting them into practice in the context of limited resources. Assuming that the increase in social complexity increases the risks of such events, we approach these problems from the perspective of creating rapid mechanisms to adapt to such changes, the lessons learned now being applied in the future to other similar cases.

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Covid-19 and medical negligence litigation: Immunity for healthcare professionals?

Cited by 13 publications

References 4 publications

Claimed medical malpractice in fatal SARS-CoV-2 infections: the importance of combining ante- and post-mortem radiological data and autopsy findings for correct forensic analysis

Claimed medical malpractice in fatal SARS-CoV-2 infections: the importance of combining ante- and post-mortem radiological data and autopsy findings for correct forensic analysis

Take-Home Messages from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Strengths and Pitfalls of the Italian National Health Service from a Medico-Legal Point of View

Physicians Professional Immunity in the COVID-19 Pandemic. Problems and Solutions

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