Reciprocity and Liability Protections during the Covid‐19 Pandemic

Koch, Valerie Gutmann; Hoffmann, Diane E.

doi:10.1002/hast.1255

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 13 publications

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“…The absence of a legal shield could also worsen the quality of care; although, to date, there is insufficient evidence that liability protection could affect medical performance, it is likely that the increase in stress - induced by the fear of doctors being prosecuted for mistakes made during their activity - worsens the quality of medical care ( 19 ). In the case of pathologies of unknown origin, the limitation induced by defensive medicine could discourage some doctors in participating, even resorting to diagnostic and treatment attempts (indispensable in facing pathologies of unknown origin) the timely definition of specific treatments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hepatitis outbreak in children: Medico-legal implications and liability protection. Have we learned anything from the COVID-19 pandemic?

Cioffi

Cecannecchia

2022

Front. Public Health

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hepatitis outbreak in children: Medico-legal implications and liability protection. Have we learned anything from the COVID-19 pandemic?

Cioffi

Cecannecchia

2022

Front. Public Health

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Medical Board Discipline of Physicians for Spreading Medical Misinformation

Saver

2024

JAMA Netw Open

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ImportanceFalse medical information disseminated dangerously during the COVID-19 pandemic, with certain physicians playing a surprisingly prominent role. Medical boards engendered widespread criticism for not imposing forceful sanctions, but considerable uncertainty remains about how the professional licensure system regulates physician-spread misinformation.ObjectiveTo compare the level of professional discipline of physicians for spreading medical misinformation relative to discipline for other offenses.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis cross-sectional study analyzed and coded publicly reported medical board disciplinary actions in the 5 most populous US states. The analysis included data from January 1, 2020, through May 30, 2023, for California, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania and from January 1, 2020, through March 30, 2022, for Texas.Main Outcomes and MeasuresMedical board disciplinary proceedings that resulted in some form of sanction were analyzed. Codes were assigned for the different types of offenses relied on by medical boards for imposing physician discipline.ResultsAmong 3128 medical board disciplinary proceedings in the 5 most populous states, spreading misinformation to the community was the least common reason for medical board discipline of physicians (6 [0.1%] of all identified offenses). Two reasons tied for third least common: patient-directed misinformation (21 [0.3%]) and inappropriate advertising or patient solicitation (21 [0.3%]). The frequency of misinformation conduct was exponentially lower than more common reasons for discipline, such as physician negligence (1911 [28.7%]), problematic record-keeping (990 [14.9%]), and inappropriate prescribing (901 [13.5%]). Patient-directed misinformation provided a basis for discipline 3 times as often as spreading misinformation to the community. The frequency of disciplinary actions for any reasons related to COVID-19 care, even if not about misinformation, was also quite low (10 [0.2%]). Sanctions in misinformation actions tended to be relatively light.Conclusions and RelevanceThe frequency of discipline for physician-spread misinformation observed in this cross-sectional study was quite low despite increased salience and medical board warnings since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic about the dangers of physicians spreading falsehoods. These findings suggest that there is a serious disconnect between regulatory guidance and enforcement and that medical boards relied on spreading misinformation to patients as a reason for discipline 3 times more frequently than disseminating falsehoods to the public. These results shed light on important policy concerns about professional licensure, including why, under current patient-centered frameworks, this form of regulation may be particularly ill-suited to address medical misinformation.

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Crisis Standards of Care—More Than Just a Thought Experiment?

Mehta¹,

Wynia²

2021

Hastings Center Report

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As described in two articles in the September‐October 2021 issue of the Hastings Center Report, most crisis standards of care (CSC) plans include triage algorithms to guide the allocation of critical care resources to some patients and not others under conditions of extreme scarcity. The plans also include other important CSC strategies, but it is the notion of rationing scarce resources via triage that especially captured the imaginations of ethicists. Vigorous arguments have arisen over whether triage algorithms should be designed to prioritize patients based on predictions of short‐, near‐, or long‐term survival. Additionally, there are ongoing debates about the ability of current algorithms to estimate patient survival accurately enough to be useful in triage and about the role of values like equity in triage protocols. Relatively few debates have noted, however, that while the development of CSC triage protocols has been based in medicine, public health, and ethics, the activation of CSC plans remains a political decision.

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Reciprocity and Liability Protections during the Covid‐19 Pandemic

Cited by 6 publications

References 13 publications

Hepatitis outbreak in children: Medico-legal implications and liability protection. Have we learned anything from the COVID-19 pandemic?

Hepatitis outbreak in children: Medico-legal implications and liability protection. Have we learned anything from the COVID-19 pandemic?

Medical Board Discipline of Physicians for Spreading Medical Misinformation

Crisis Standards of Care—More Than Just a Thought Experiment?

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