Is Covid-19 sowing the seeds for future litigation?

We consider various types of litigation that may follow the Covid-19 pandemic, including: claims against National Health Service (NHS) Trusts by patients who have contracted the coronavirus (or by their bereaved families), claims by NHS staff against their employer for a failure to provide any or adequate personal protective equipment or testing, commercial claims arising from the procurement of medical supplies, the potential liabilities to those who suffer adverse reactions to any vaccine and the guidance issued by the regulators in relation to subsequent disciplinary action.

The Legal Underpinnings of Medical Discipline in Common Law Jurisdictions.

Medical regulators have a responsibility to protect, promote, and maintain the health and safety of patients. Here, we compare and contrast the processes for addressing concerns about doctors in four countries with legal systems based on English common law: the UK, Australia, the United States, and Canada. The legal provisions underpinning each jurisdiction's disciplinary processes depict distinctive outlooks from the different authorities as each works toward the same goal. The initial stages of the investigation process are broadly similar in all of the jurisdictions examined. Each process, however, has subtle differences with regard to its comparators. Factors include how matters of discipline are framed, the constitution of disciplinary panels, and how the perceived independence of these panels all philosophically affect the public safety remit of each regulator. This work constitutes the first comparison of international regulatory frameworks for the profession of medicine.

CMS Delays Fines for Nursing Home Infractions.

Moratorium elicits concern among nursing home advocates.

Privacy, Trainee Rights, and Accountability in Radiology Education.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Academic radiologists commonly hold multiple simultaneous roles within the landscape of physician training. This paper analyzes theoretical scenarios describing relationships between medical students, residents, and physician educators in radiology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The scenarios presented involve medical student supervision, radiology resident recruitment, and resident termination with respect to relevant ethical, regulatory, and legal considerations. Legal precedents and the medical social contract are addressed. RESULTS: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act defines a framework for the privacy practices of medical schools, but it does not confer individual rights. Resident physicians rarely win wrongful termination lawsuits. Physician educators are ethically bound to act in the best interest of society. CONCLUSIONS: Courts have ruled that medicine is intended to be a self-regulatory profession. Such a power requires that physicians remain accountable to the public while providing a fair learning environment for medical trainees.

The Fundamentals of Resident Dismissal.

Residents have the rights and responsibilities of both students and employees. Dismissal of a resident from a training program is traumatic and has lasting repercussions for the program director, the faculty, the dismissed resident, and the residency. A review of English language literature was performed using PUBMED and OVID databases, using the search terms, resident dismissal, resident termination, student dismissal, student and resident evaluation, legal aspects of education, and remediation. The references of each publication were also reviewed to identify additional appropriate citations. If the Just Cause threshold has been met, educators have the absolute discretion to evaluate academic and clinical performance. Legal opinion has stated that it is not necessary to wait until a patient is harmed to dismiss a resident. Evaluations should be standard and robust. Negative evaluations are not defamatory as the resident gave consent to be evaluated. Provided departmental and institutional polices have been followed, a resident can be dismissed without a formal hearing. Residencies are entitled to modify academic requirements and dismissal is not considered a breach of contract. Although there is anxiety regarding resident dismissal, the courts have uniformly supported faculty having this role. When indicated, failure to dismiss a resident also places the program director and the faculty at risk for educational malpractice.

Rhode Island Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline: Illustration of the disciplinary process as it pertains to cases involving opioid prescribing.

Prescription-drug overuse/overdose and misuse is an important and pivotal issue to state medical boards. This is an illustration of how some cases involving overprescribing of opioids have been addressed by the Rhode Island Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline.

It Doesn't Have to End in Disaster: A Case for Employment Compliance.

It only takes one unhappy or disgruntled person to create a legal nightmare for you. There's no need to take this gamble. All it takes is awareness, commitment and action on your part. Once you have your HR house in order and have implemented a sound HR program in your practice, you also can feel good about knowing you are giving your staff every protection due to them under the law and every opportunity to be happy and successful in your practice. For yourself, you will be minimizing your risks and protecting your most valuable asset--your practice. You also will have given yourself the gift of peace of mind.