The American College of Radiology has joined the country’s largest physician association in urging governors to shield docs from legal liability during the COVID crisis.
ACR voiced its support for this policy change in a news item posted Thursday, noting the added risks providers must absorb amid the pandemic. The American Medical Association first made its case for civil liability protections in an April 20 letter to the National Governors Association.
“Legal liability for healthcare workers and emergency responders remains a significant obstacle for physicians who are considering the best way to alter their practices to fight the pandemic,” the college said in its news item.
To aid in advocacy, the ACR has disseminated a sample letter to state chapters, aimed at asking local leaders to reduce legal risks that may arise while diagnosing and managing coronavirus patients. The recently passed CARES Act does offer such protections for clinicians who volunteer their services, ACR wrote in its template.
“Given the enormity of the COVID-19 crisis, however, we strongly urge you to consider broader state liability protections for physicians, other clinicians and the facilities where they practice,” the college wrote. “Stronger protections are needed to recognize their heroic, nonstop efforts to treat COVID-19 under unprecedented conditions.”
New York state has already granted radiologists and other providers immunity from civil liability claims for injury or death during the pandemic response, except in cases of gross negligence. And one U.S. lawmaker has pushed for a national shield to defend providers from an incoming “plague of lawsuits.”
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.