To take care of those on the front line against Covid-19: Is it possible to limit medical liability?

Tozzo, Pamela; Politi, Caterina; Gabbin, Andrea; Caenazzo, Luciana

doi:10.1016/j.scijus.2020.05.001

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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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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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 problem of staff having to work without the necessary skills, in specializations other than those for which they were hired (Tozzo et al, 2020) has a significant impact on professional responsibility. In many states, physicians have to work during the crisis beyond the traditional boundaries of discipline and specialization (Tingle, 2020).…”

Section: De Facto Change Of Specializationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The existence of transparent patient selection procedures is part of the measures to protect hospitals (Tozzo et al, 2020) and health workers. Guides reduce the burden on professionals, who have to make life and death decisions anyway (Joebges & Biller-Andorno, 2020).…”

Section: Professional Issues Raised By Ethical Selection Criteriamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Problems and … Viorel ROTILĂ pandemic and the reactions to it. Overall, we believe that a common solution is needed for all states, adapted to the legal system of each one of them, to protect health professionals, it should guarantee a good balance between patients' rights and employees justified protection (Tozzo et al, 2020). Types of social change brought by COVID-19 pandemic adaptation could become much more common.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

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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“…Dietary quality and quantity are expected to fall due to the loss of household income and disruptions in food systems (e.g., disruption of trade and transport of foods from production to markets) and school feeding programs. In addition, the uncharted territory in which health care professionals have been operating has led many to argue that some form of medical liability protection [19,20] ought to be put in place, in order to shield doctors from possible lawsuits due to decisions made under unprecedented circumstances, with no protocols to guide them [21]. Within such an extremely troublesome context, women who want to terminate a pregnancy have had difficulty in finding operational counseling institutions and hospital services [22,23], mostly due to the redistribution of resources and personnel, in addition to travel limitations.…”

Section: Introduction: the Covid-19 Emergency And Termination Of Pregnancymentioning

confidence: 99%

Is the Right to Abortion at Risk in Times of COVID-19? The Italian State of Affairs within the European Context

et al. 2021

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The COVID-19 health emergency has thrown the health systems of most European countries into a deep crisis, forcing them to call off and postpone all interventions deemed not essential or life-saving in order to focus most resources on the treatment of COVID-19 patients. To facilitate women who are experiencing difficulties in terminating their pregnancies in Italy, the Ministry of Health has adapted to the regulations in force in most European countries and issued new guidelines that allow medical abortion up to 63 days, i.e., 9 weeks of gestational age, without mandatory hospitalization. This decision was met with some controversy, based on the assumption that the abortion pill could “incentivize” women to resort to abortion more easily. In fact, statistical data show that in countries that have been using medical abortion for some time, the number of abortions has not increased. The authors expect that even in Italy, as is the case in other European countries, the use of telemedicine is likely to gradually increase as a safe and valuable option in the third phase of the health emergency. The authors argue that there is a need to favor pharmacological abortion by setting up adequately equipped counseling centers, as is the case in other European countries, limiting hospitalization to only a few particularly complex cases.

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To take care of those on the front line against Covid-19: Is it possible to limit medical liability?

Cited by 8 publications

References 3 publications

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

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

Is the Right to Abortion at Risk in Times of COVID-19? The Italian State of Affairs within the European Context

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