MIEC has been receiving increasing calls from members who are concerned about patients who have not received a COVID vaccine. Members have expressed concerns regarding the safety of unvaccinated patients, other patients in the practice, and their staff. Some members have expressed an unwillingness to continue treating patients who are either vaccine-hesitant or who have refused to get vaccinated, or they are unwilling to see these patients in their offices. To address this question more broadly, MIEC turned to ECRI, which provided the following recommendations based on a review of clinical and gray literature and ECRI resources. ECRI answers questions...
Over the past few weeks, increasing COVID-19 hospitalizations finally overwhelmed hospitals, driving health officials to cross a threshold that had been avoided successfully since the beginning of the pandemic. Last week, two hard-hit areas of the United States declared “crisis standards of care” due to lack of available healthcare resources in the setting of COVID-19. On 9/7/21 the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare announced that two districts in Northern Idaho would activate crisis standards of care; the rest of the state followed suit on 9/16/21 due to a lack of critical care resources at the state’s largest health system....
The doctor-patient relationship is rooted in trust. Patients often present their most vulnerable selves to their physicians with the trust that they will remain respectful and professional at all times. An important part of establishing an atmosphere of trust is maintaining clear professional boundaries with patients. If this trust is compromised it can be damaging to the patient, your reputation, your practice, and the medical community. Not all cases are clear when it comes to avoiding boundary violations. Sure, it is easy to recognize blatant violations such as having sexual relations with a patient, but what about attending a wedding...
Review of Bohn v. Providence Health Services Lawsuit
The Alaska Supreme Court recently interpreted a portion of the Alaska Healthcare Decision Act under Bohn v. Providence Health Services – Washington. While this is the first time the Court has interpreted the HCDA, its decision focused on a single provision of the statute, AS 13.52.080(a)(3). This provision grants immunity to health care providers declining to comply with a person’s health care decision so long as the provider “acts in good faith and in accordance with generally accepted health care standards” and so long as the refusal to comply is “based on a good faith belief that the person then...
As the U.S. slowly recovers from the pandemic and COVID hospitalizations decline, a backlog of surgeries is beginning to clear as facilities resume elective surgical procedures. Over the past year, guidelines for performing elective surgery in the setting of COVID have been available from the American College of Surgeons, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American Society of Anesthesiologists, and other national authorities. These recommendations have focused on issues such as: ensuring adequate availability of critical care resources, hospital beds, and personal protective equipment in the setting of the pandemic; minimizing the risk of COVID transmission between patients and healthcare personnel;...
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