Doctors need our protection, not our lawsuits after coronavirus ends

Many doctors are working outside of their normal area of expertise to support the NHS effort, knowing that over 175 frontline health and care workers have lost their lives

While the Covid-19 focus has shifted to the reopening of schools and the easing of other lockdown measures, doctors continue to work in uniquely challenging circumstances. As the months have passed it is easy to forget that this is still a new disease, with many unknowns. Doctors are making tough treatment and triaging decisions, and in the past weeks, some have even had to make the decision to not see patients due to inadequate PPE provision.

Many doctors are also working outside of their normal area of expertise to support the NHS effort, and some have even come out of retirement, in the knowledge that over 175 frontline health and care workers have lost their lives to Covid-19.

These doctors need to know they are supported, yet many tell us they are concerned that they will face investigation down the line for the difficult decisions they are making now in good faith. This does not seem right.

The Medical Protection Society (MPS) recently called on the government to introduce emergency laws, so doctors are protected from criminal and regulatory investigation in relation to their treatment of patients during the Covid-19 crisis. We also asked the General Medical Council (GMC) and NHS employers for reassurance that doctors will not be subjected to regulatory or disciplinary action following a decision or outcome that is the result of poor PPE provision.

This topic has generated much debate, and not only in the UK. In the US, doctors’ concerns have resulted in state governments taking a variety of actions to protect healthcare workers from investigation and litigation.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, for example, has said he would not let “healthcare heroes emerge from this crisis facing a tidal wave of medical malpractice claims” and proposed raising the liability threshold for Covid-19-related claims. Alabama and Oklahoma have set out plans to provide civil liability immunity to healthcare providers and facilities for any loss or harm to a person with a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of Covid-19 caused by an act or omission during the state’s public health emergency.

These are interesting developments, no doubt followed closely by healthcare workers, legal professionals, the government and the public here in the UK.

The public has shown immense support for NHS frontline workers, as demonstrated by the millions who step out onto the streets every Thursday to clap for the NHS and other key workers. And it appears this support extends further: to doctors being better protected during this crisis.

A YouGov survey of over 2,000 adults in Great Britain found that 84 per cent say doctors should be able to focus on saving lives without fear of prosecution or investigation following treatment of patients during Covid-19.

Four in five people (81 per cent) believe that if a doctor decides they cannot safely see a Covid-19 patient because they have not been provided with adequate PPE, and a patient subsequently comes to harm, the doctor should not be held personally accountable.

And two-thirds (67 per cent) of the public support the introduction of emergency laws, so doctors are protected from criminal and regulatory investigation in relation to their treatment of patients during Covid-19.

It is clear from this survey that there is overwhelming public support for doctors’ protection.

We hope the government will listen and grant doctors legal immunity when they are treating patients in good faith during this crisis.

We have also shared this survey data with the GMC. We hope that, if and when they receive complaints about doctors, they will not just stick to their commitment to fully consider the very challenging position that doctors are in but also reflect on the strength of public confidence in the profession.

Now, more than ever, doctors need to know they are supported.

Dr Rob Hendry is medical director at the Medical Protection Society (MPS)