Health-care workers in need of protection from lawsuits
Arizona Legislature will be reviewing senate bill SB 1032 that will impact emergency health care. Arizona has a shortage of physicians and other health-care providers. It is a shortage that is attributed to false claims of malpractice. Through this bill, in order to prove malpractice in emergency situations, the level of evidence to prove liability would be changed from "a preponderance of evidence" to "clear and convincing evidence," meaning that it would have to be proven with virtually 100 percent of the evidence against the health-care team that malpractice occurred. This will not ban valid lawsuits against anyone on the health-care team. Currently, if a patient arrives in a medical facility needing emergency medical care, federal law states that a hospital and health-care team must care for the patient. At the same time, professional and legal standards mandate that a proper history and physical, lab workups, et cetera, should be completed prior to providing optimal care for that patient. This situation creates a dilemma, as the health-care team cannot provide optimal care based on their training and professional standards while at the same time required to care for that patient.
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