Physicians Professional Immunity in the COVID-19 Pandemic. Problems and Solutions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18662/po/12.1Sup1/291Keywords:
doctors, professional immunity, malpractice, COVID-19, limitation of liabilityAbstract
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.
References
Al-Azri N. H. (2020). Healthcare workers' legal liability and immunity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Disaster medicine and public health preparedness, 1–8. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.449
Ben Amar, W., Karray, N., Zribi, M., Siala, H., Dhouib, H., Karray, M., Hammami, Z., & Maatoug, S. (2020). Criminal medical liability in the context of Covid-19 pandemic. La Tunisie medicale, 98(5), 334–342.
Berlin J. (2020). Pandemic Poses Legal Pitfalls: TMA Seeks Better Liability Shields. Texas medicine, 116(8), 38–40.
Bilotta, C., Zerbo, S., Perrone, G., Malta, G., & Argo, A. (2020). The medico-legal implications in medical malpractice claims during Covid-19 pandemic: Increase or trend reversal?. The Medico-legal journal, 88(1_suppl), 35–37. https://doi.org/10.1177/0025817220926925
Brodhead, F. (2020). Liability Protection for COVID-19 Health Care Providers. The American journal of nursing, 120(9), 16. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NAJ.0000697572.79173.5d
Cioffi, A., & Rinaldi, R. (2020). Covid-19 and medical liability: A delicate balance. The Medico-legal journal, 88(4), 187–188. https://doi.org/10.1177/0025817220935879
Cohen, I. G., Crespo, A. M., & White, D. B. (2020). Potential Legal Liability for Withdrawing or Withholding Ventilators During COVID-19: Assessing the Risks and Identifying Needed Reforms. JAMA, 323(19), 1901–1902. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.5442
Colegiul Medicilor din România. (2020). Propunere reglementare extindere competențe pentru personalul care îngrijește pacienți infectați cu SARS-CoV-2, pe fondul unor resurse medicale limitate, inclusiv resurse umane (Proposed regulatory extension of competence for staff caring for SARS-CoV-2 infected patients, due to limited medical resources, including human resources). Retrieved from: https://www.cmr.ro/new/index.php/2020/11/propunere-reglementare-extindere-competente-pentru-personalul-care-ingrijeste-pacienti-infectati-cu-sars-cov-2-pe-fondul-unor-resurse-medicale-limitate-inclusiv-resurse-umane/
d'Aloja, E., Finco, G., Demontis, R., Napoli, P. E., Fossarello, M., & Nioi, M. (2020). COVID-19 and medical liability: Italy denies the shield to its heroes. EClinicalMedicine, 25, 100470. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100470
Duignan, K., & Bradbury, C. (2020). Covid-19 and medical negligence litigation: Immunity for healthcare professionals? The Medico-legal journal, 88(1_suppl), 31–34. https://doi.org/10.1177/0025817220935892
Fisher, O. M., Brown, K., Coker, D. J., McBride, K. E., Steffens, D., Koh, C. E., & Sandroussi, C. (2020). Distributive justice during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in Australia. ANZ journal of surgery, 90(6), 961–962. https://doi.org/10.1111/ans.16069
Kelly, A. M. (2020). COVID-19 and medical litigation: More than just the obvious. Emergency Medicine Australasia: EMA, 32(4), 703-705. https://doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.13548
Kirkpatrick, J. N., Hull, S. C., Fedson, S., Mullen, B., & Goodlin, S. J. (2020). Scarce-Resource Allocation and Patient Triage During the COVID-19 Pandemic: JACC Review Topic of the Week. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 76(1), 85–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2020.05.006
Klitzman R. L. (2020). Legal Immunity for Physicians During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Needs to Address Legal and Ethical Challenges. Chest, 158(4), 1343–1345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2020.06.007
Martin-Fumadó, C., Gómez-Durán, E. L., Benet-Travé, J., Barbería-Marcalain, E., & Arimany-Manso, J. (2020). Liability claims in Spain post-COVID-19: A predictable scenario. Legal medicine (Tokyo, Japan), 47, 101745. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.legalmed.2020.101745
Oliva, A., Caputo, M., Grassi, S., Vetrugno, G., Marazza, M., Ponzanelli, G., Cauda, R., Scambia, G., Forti, G., Bellantone, R., & Pascali, V. L. (2020). Liability of Health Care Professionals and Institutions During COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Symposium Proceedings and Position Statement. Journal of patient safety, 16(4), e299–e302. https://doi.org/10.1097/PTS.0000000000000793
Parisi, S. G., Viel, G., Cecchi, R., & Montisci, M. (2020). COVID-19: The wrong target for healthcare liability claims. Legal medicine (Tokyo, Japan), 46, 101718. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.legalmed.2020.101718
Poole, N. (2020). Coronavirus and clinical negligence. Journal of Patient Safety and Risk Management, 25(3), 97–98. https://doi.org/10.1177/2516043520932463
Ricci, M., & Gallina, P. (2020). COVID-19-immunity from prosecution for physicians forced to allocate scarce resources: the Italian perspective. Critical care (London, England), 24(1), 295. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-020-03028-9
Robert, R., Kentish-Barnes, N., Boyer, A. et al. (2020). Ethical dilemmas due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Ann. Intensive Care 10, 84. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13613-020-00702-7
Rothstein M. A. (2010). Currents in contemporary ethics. Malpractice immunity for volunteer physicians in Public Health Emergencies: adding insult to injury. The Journal of law, medicine & ethics: a journal of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 38(1), 149–153. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-720X.2010.00475.x
Sandu, A. (2020). The Principles of Bioethics and their Use in Ethical Decision-Making. Logos Universality Mentality Education Novelty: Social Sciences, 9 (1), Issue 1, 139-154. doi: 10.18662/lumenss/9.1/39
Solomon, M. Z., Wynia, M., & Gostin, L. O. (2020). Scarcity in the Covid-19 Pandemic. The Hastings Center report, 50(2), 3. https://doi.org/10.1002/hast.1093
Teo, W., Brenner, L. H., & Bal, B. S. (2020). Medicolegal Sidebar: Legal Immunity for Healthcare Workers During COVID-19. Clinical orthopaedics and related research, 478(10), 2218–2220. https://doi.org/10.1097/CORR.0000000000001473
Tingle J. (2020). Patient safety and litigation in the NHS post-COVID-19. British journal of nursing (Mark Allen Publishing), 29(7), 444–445. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2020.29.7.444
Tomkins, C., Purshouse, C., Heywood, R., Miola, J., Cave, E., & Devaney, S. (2020). Should doctors tackling covid-19 be immune from negligence liability claims? BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 370, m2487. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m2487
Tozzo, P., Politi, C., Gabbin, A., & Caenazzo, L. (2020). To take care of those on the front line against Covid-19: Is it possible to limit medical liability? Science & justice: journal of the Forensic Science Society, 60(4), 311–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scijus.2020.05.001
Truog, R. D., Mitchell, C., & Daley, G. Q. (2020). The Toughest Triage - Allocating Ventilators in a Pandemic. The New England journal of medicine, 382(21), 1973–1975. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2005689
White, D. B., & Lo, B. (2020). A Framework for Rationing Ventilators and Critical Care Beds During the COVID-19 Pandemic. JAMA, 323(18), 1773–1774. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.5046
Valiani, S., Terrett, L., Gebhardt, C., Prokopchuk-Gauk, O., & Isinger, M. (2020). Development of a framework for critical care resource allocation for the COVID-19 pandemic in Saskatchewan. CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 192(37), E1067–E1073. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.200756
Joebges, S., & Biller-Andorno, N. (2020). Ethics guidelines on COVID-19 triage-an emerging international consensus. Critical care (London, England), 24(1), 201. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-020-02927-1
Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (1979). The elements of style (3rd ed.). New York: Macmillan.
Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J. A. J., & Lupton, R. A. (2000). The art of writing a scientific article. Journal of Scientific Communications, 163, 51 - 59.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 The Authors & LUMEN Publishing House
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant this journal right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work, with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as an earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Postmodern Openings Journal has an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
CC BY-NC-ND