Legal Implications of Personal Protective Equipment Use When Treating Patients for COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2).
J Law Med
; 27(4): 856-864, 2020 Aug.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-743544
ABSTRACT
Front-line health care personnel, including anaesthetists, otolaryngologists, and other health professionals dealing with acute cases of coronavirus, face a high risk of infection and thus mortality. The scientific evidence establishes that to protect them, hospital protocols should require that wearing of the highest levels of personal protective equipment (PPE) be available for doctors and nurses performing aerosol-generating procedures, such as intubation, sputum induction, open suctioning of airways, bronchoscopy, etc. of COVID-19 patients. Although several international bodies have issued recommendations for a very high-level PPE to be used when these procedures are undertaken, the current PPE guidelines in Australia have tended to be more relaxed, and hospital authorities relying on them might not comply with legal obligations to their employee health care workers. Failure to provide high-level PPE in many hospitals is of concern for a large number of health care workers; this article examines the scientific literature on the topic and provides a legal perspective on hospital authorities' possible liability in negligence.
Keywords
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Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Pandemics
/
Personal Protective Equipment
Type of study:
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Oceania
Language:
English
Journal:
J Law Med
Journal subject:
Jurisprudence
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Australia
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