Abstract
Volunteer health professionals (VHPs) are essential in emergencies to fill surge capacity and provide needed medical expertise. While some VHPs are well-organized and trained, others arrive spontaneously at the site of a disaster. Lacking organization, training, and identification, they may actually impede emergency efforts. Complications involving medical volunteers in New York City after September 11, 2001, led Congress to authorize federal authorities to assist states and territories in developing emergency systems for the advance registration of volunteer health professionals (ESAR-VHP). Through advance registration, volunteers can be vetted, trained, and mobilized more effectively during emergencies. The use of VHPs, however, raises multiple legal questions: What con-stitutes an emergency, how is it declared, and what are the consequences? When are volunteers liable for their actions? When may volunteers who are licensed or certified in one state legally practice their profession in another state? Are volunteers entitled to compensation for harms they incur? This article examines the legal framework underlying the registration and use of volunteers during emergencies and offers recommendations for legal reform, including: (1) establish minimum standards to facilitate interjurisdictional emergency response, improve coordination, and enhance reciprocity of licensing and credentialing; (2) develop liability provisions for VHPs that balance their need to respond without significant fear of civil liability with patients' rights to legal recourse for egregious harms; and (3) provide basic levels of protections for VHPs harmed, injured, or killed while responding to emergencies.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 216-223 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Biosecurity and Bioterrorism |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2005 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Health(social science)
- Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Cite this
Volunteer health professionals and emergencies : Assessing and transforming the legal environment. / Hodge, James; Gable, Lance A.; Cálves, Stephanie H.
In: Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, Vol. 3, No. 3, 2005, p. 216-223.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Volunteer health professionals and emergencies
T2 - Assessing and transforming the legal environment
AU - Hodge, James
AU - Gable, Lance A.
AU - Cálves, Stephanie H.
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - Volunteer health professionals (VHPs) are essential in emergencies to fill surge capacity and provide needed medical expertise. While some VHPs are well-organized and trained, others arrive spontaneously at the site of a disaster. Lacking organization, training, and identification, they may actually impede emergency efforts. Complications involving medical volunteers in New York City after September 11, 2001, led Congress to authorize federal authorities to assist states and territories in developing emergency systems for the advance registration of volunteer health professionals (ESAR-VHP). Through advance registration, volunteers can be vetted, trained, and mobilized more effectively during emergencies. The use of VHPs, however, raises multiple legal questions: What con-stitutes an emergency, how is it declared, and what are the consequences? When are volunteers liable for their actions? When may volunteers who are licensed or certified in one state legally practice their profession in another state? Are volunteers entitled to compensation for harms they incur? This article examines the legal framework underlying the registration and use of volunteers during emergencies and offers recommendations for legal reform, including: (1) establish minimum standards to facilitate interjurisdictional emergency response, improve coordination, and enhance reciprocity of licensing and credentialing; (2) develop liability provisions for VHPs that balance their need to respond without significant fear of civil liability with patients' rights to legal recourse for egregious harms; and (3) provide basic levels of protections for VHPs harmed, injured, or killed while responding to emergencies.
AB - Volunteer health professionals (VHPs) are essential in emergencies to fill surge capacity and provide needed medical expertise. While some VHPs are well-organized and trained, others arrive spontaneously at the site of a disaster. Lacking organization, training, and identification, they may actually impede emergency efforts. Complications involving medical volunteers in New York City after September 11, 2001, led Congress to authorize federal authorities to assist states and territories in developing emergency systems for the advance registration of volunteer health professionals (ESAR-VHP). Through advance registration, volunteers can be vetted, trained, and mobilized more effectively during emergencies. The use of VHPs, however, raises multiple legal questions: What con-stitutes an emergency, how is it declared, and what are the consequences? When are volunteers liable for their actions? When may volunteers who are licensed or certified in one state legally practice their profession in another state? Are volunteers entitled to compensation for harms they incur? This article examines the legal framework underlying the registration and use of volunteers during emergencies and offers recommendations for legal reform, including: (1) establish minimum standards to facilitate interjurisdictional emergency response, improve coordination, and enhance reciprocity of licensing and credentialing; (2) develop liability provisions for VHPs that balance their need to respond without significant fear of civil liability with patients' rights to legal recourse for egregious harms; and (3) provide basic levels of protections for VHPs harmed, injured, or killed while responding to emergencies.
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U2 - 10.1089/bsp.2005.3.216
DO - 10.1089/bsp.2005.3.216
M3 - Article
VL - 3
SP - 216
EP - 223
JO - Health security
JF - Health security
SN - 2326-5094
IS - 3
ER -