The ongoing pandemic has stretched the limits of our health system in many ways. Caregivers are working long hours; pediatric nurses (some who might have exclusively worked with kids for decades) are suddenly being required to operate ventilators on critically ill elderly adults in the ICU; doctors are being asked to create care plans for complex patients that might be outside their specialty.
On top of that, last month, Gov. Charlie Baker suspended staffing requirements and state-mandated nurse-to-patient ratios at Massachusetts hospitals to ensure that all patients are treated. If those conditions weren’t strenuous enough, there’s the added stress of a national shortage of personal protective equipment.
Needless to say, health care workers are staring up a steep hill right now — they need backup more than ever.
That’s why we were pleased when Gov. Baker filed legislation that protects health care workers and facilities from civil liability while they are on the front lines of the state’s COVID-19 response.
The bill was passed into state law Thursday.
According to a statement from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the legislation protects health care professionals — doctors, nurses and emergency medical technicians, as well as certain health care facilities — from liability when the care they provide is impacted by the pandemic emergency. The bill also gives protections to health workers staffing the numerous field medical stations being set up across the state.
“I cannot overstate the urgency of enacting this legislation. We need to ensure that fear of liability will not prevent the Commonwealth and its medical institutions from acting decisively to deliver the kind of medical response we need during this pandemic,” Gov. Baker wrote in a memo attached to the legislation,
Yes, it’s important that health care workers are held accountable for medical negligence. But these are extraordinary times.
From the pandemic’s start, there’s been concern within the medical community about the potential for malpractice as a result of the stringent working conditions. That concern has led some to refuse to work, which in turn has gotten them into trouble or caused them to quit altogether — which doesn’t help the situation at all. Until this crisis passes, we need as many medical professionals as are available.
As they step into the line of fire, knowingly putting their own health at risk, they need to understand their careers aren’t at risk as well. Increased legal protections is one way to support their valiant efforts in a tangible way.