RESUMO
@#Since the beginning of the year 2020, Malaysia has been gravely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic where to date over four million of its population have been infected with the virus. At the time of writing this paper, the number of infections is still alarming. This situation undoubtedly places a strain on the healthcare system, particularly on healthcare professionals who have been entrusted to treat COVID-19 patients. Treating a high number of patients in an unprecedented situation may pose a challenge for doctors to fulfil their legal duties that arise from the usual doctor-patient relationship particularly in discharging the established standard of care imposed by the law. This is the main issue that this paper seeks to explore. In addition, this paper also examines doctors’ duty of care towards non-COVID-19 patients amidst limited medical resources and policy consideration that inevitably causes a delay in giving medical treatments and elective surgeries. In answering these questions, the method employed in this paper is qualitative analysis. In conclusion, it is suggested that keeping up to the established standard of care is crucial in maintaining public confidence in the medical profession and also to protect public health and welfare.
RESUMO
@#Dentistry is a noble profession where dentists often manage to bring smiles and create confidence in patients. Nonetheless, as with other medical professionals, dentists too often encounter legal suits brought against them by their patients. Legal actions against dentists are not new in Malaysia, where several actions have been litigated in court. The rise in legal actions against medical professionals including dentists is associated with the increased awareness of patient’s rights and autonomy. Legal actions can cause several repercussions on dentists such as loss of reputation, shame and anxiety. As such, it is imperative for dentists to have the basic legal knowledge on the potential legal liability that they may face should something go wrong during the course of dental treatment. This is the main crux of this paper where several dento-legal cases that have been reported in Malaysian law journals are identified and analysed. This is followed with a brief discussion on the legal issues surrounding those cases. Legal principles governing the issues identified are provided in brief so as to provide dentists with basic legal knowledge on the legal aspect of dentistry.