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Currents in Contemporary Ethics

Malpractice Immunity for Volunteer Physicians in Public Health Emergencies: Adding Insult to Injury

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Mark A. Rothstein
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Extract

There is widespread concern among public health and emergency response officials that there could be a shortage of health care providers in a public health emergency. At least the following three factors could cause an inadequate supply of physicians, nurses, and other health care providers: (1) the severity of the emergency might greatly increase the demand for health services and outstrip the available supply; (2) health care providers might become unavailable because of their own high rates of illness, as was the case in the SARS epidemic; and (3) many health care providers might not report for duty for personal, family, or professional reasons.

One way of addressing the shortage is to encourage health care providers from unaffected areas or parts of the country to volunteer their services. A variety of measures have been enacted to facilitate the use of such volunteers.

Type
Independent
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , Spring 2010 , pp. 149 - 153
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2010

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