The challenges of COVID-19 are beyond the obvious health and economic concerns. With legal and ethical issues surrounding treating patients, there are many questions facing legal experts working on COVID-19 cases. New problems are arising. Crucial resources and care are insufficient, meaning medical staff will need to decide which patients are prioritised. This leads to an array of legal cases related to the virus when people feel that they were not given the treatment they needed or deserved. Who is to say who gets treated first? And when is this okay?
Medical Guidelines
Most NHS trusts have guideline protocols to help doctors decide who receives medical attention. This is fraught with peril because it is based on the subjective opinions of medical personnel. The legal sector is still struggling to deal with these intricacies. Ensuring the greatest medical benefit for the largest number of patients is the basic principle, but when it comes to such a difficult virus it isn’t always clear what will benefit the greatest number of patients.
Grounds for Legal Action
While doctors will not be found negligent if their actions meet the standards of a reputable medical body, there could be legal actions taken if a patient is denied a bed or a ventilator that is given to someone else. The judge determined that doctors have to make quick decisions without consulting others and didn’t fault them when things went wrong in one court case. David Lock QC, a health care law specialist, argued that it is difficult to establish that doctors have acted negligently during the pandemic, citing egregious errors must be blatant to take legal action.
Patients Who Have Been Wronged
Unfortunately it’s not that simple. There are and will be plenty of people who feel that they or their loved one was wronged in the process of treatment of COVID-19. While some patients might want to litigate their case despite that it might not be successful and only time will tell how judges are changing their views on negligence and COVID-19.
A representative from McGinley Solicitors, a law firm working with personal injury claims in Ireland, shared that legal practitioners will have to adapt to changes with the best interests of their clients in mind. There’s a balance between protecting the interests of justice in health care claims and the public health concerns to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Protecting Medical Employees
With such a problematic situation surrounding patients that want compensation for their pain and suffering and medical employees who want to protect themselves, there are no clear solutions to the legal challenges of COVID-19. It is, of course, the interest of doctors to protect themselves as the pressure grows on health services.
61 percent of the Medical Protection Society (MPS) members surveyed expressed concerned about facing an investigation as a result of a clinical decision they made when working in a high pressure environment. Furthermore, 36 percent said they’re worried about the claim against them following a decision to either withdraw or withhold the treatment of a patient due to capacity and resource limitations.
Medical professionals and patients are both unhappy about the legal challenges that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. They won’t go away any time soon. These legal perils will last long into the future, even when the pandemic has ended. While patients deserve some form of compensation when they have been wronged in the treatment process.
However, with beds, ventilators, and other medical equipment impacted, medical personnel can’t be expected to be responsible for the nature of this horrible virus. After all they are essential workers who are facing the pandemic head on. There are no easy solutions and the legal sector will have to determine how judges will decide these cases that are opened in the future. Currently it is unclear how these decisions will be judged, but the details will come into focus as time goes on. The clarity involving the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to unravel. We don’t understand fully the ramifications of the virus yet.
