Compassion Fatigue in an Infodemic: A Physician’s Duty to Treat in the Age of Misinformation

Authors

Alessandra Perez, University of Miami School of Law

Abstract

This Note considers how misinformation has exacerbated the COVID-19 pandemic and the inevitable burden it has placed on the healthcare industry. It explores the intersection between a doctor’s oath of ethics and their right to refuse care by uncovering the obligations that guide their decisions. Justice dictates that physicians provide care to all who seek it, and it is unconstitutional for a physician to refuse to treat patients based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. Even if a patient’s request is antithetical to a physician’s personal beliefs, the unwavering duty to treat generally mandates that physicians treat any patient who has requested his or her services. However, given the way that misinformation and disinformation has aggravated the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in countless preventable hospitalizations and deaths, this Note will unearth the physical and emotional toll the infodemic has taken on healthcare professionals, explore available remedies to them, and endorse a holistic response modeled upon the collective good.

Recommended Citation

Alessandra Perez, Compassion Fatigue in an Infodemic: A Physician’s Duty to Treat in the Age of Misinformation, 30 U. MIA Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 236 (2023)
Available at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/umiclr/vol30/iss2/9