Liability in the Time of Coronavirus: The Ethical Necessity of Expanding the Legal Protections Afforded to Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Although discussions have begun regarding the ways in which healthcare providers and individuals in fields adjacent to healthcare might be exposed to legal sanctions involving COVID-19, the complete scope of the legal risks is still largely unknown. This essay explores how current laws in the United States fail to offer adequate protections: (1) to healthcare workers (HCW) practicing under significantly altered standards of care, and (2) to individuals involved in the allocation of scarce resource decision-making process. Using research on Second Victim Syndrome and Medical Malpractice Stress Syndrome, legal protections are presented to provide HCW a form of “moral buffering” to help prevent further traumatizing them for shouldering extraordinary burdens during the COVID-19 pandemic. In so doing, this article advocates for the passage of appropriate legal protection as not merely a legal issue, but also an ethical one.