Take-Home Messages from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Strengths and Pitfalls of the Italian National Health Service from a Medico-Legal Point of View

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Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As of the end of October 2020, there were 50 million cases of infection and over one million deaths recorded worldwide, over 45,000 of which occurred in Italy. In Italy, the demand for intensive care over the course of this pandemic crisis has been exceptionally high, resulting in a severe imbalance between the demand for and availability of the necessary resources. This paper focuses on elements of preventive medicine and medical treatments in emergency and non-emergency situations which, based on the international scientific literature, may prove to be useful to physicians on a behavioral level and avert professional liability problems. In order to achieve this objective, we have performed a search on MEDLINE to find published articles related to the risks associated with the pandemic that contain useful suggestions and strategies for mitigating risks and protecting the safety of the population. The results have been collocated in line with these specific study areas.

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Most cited references 94

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Baseline Characteristics and Outcomes of 1591 Patients Infected With SARS-CoV-2 Admitted to ICUs of the Lombardy Region, Italy

Giacomo Grasselli, Alberto Zangrillo, Alberto Zanella … (2020)

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2]) emerged in China and has spread globally, creating a pandemic. Information about the clinical characteristics of infected patients who require intensive care is limited.

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Epidemiology of Covid-19 in a Long-Term Care Facility in King County, Washington

Temet M. McMichael, Dustin W Currie, Shauna Clark … (2020)

Abstract Background Long-term care facilities are high-risk settings for severe outcomes from outbreaks of Covid-19, owing to both the advanced age and frequent chronic underlying health conditions of the residents and the movement of health care personnel among facilities in a region. Methods After identification on February 28, 2020, of a confirmed case of Covid-19 in a skilled nursing facility in King County, Washington, Public Health–Seattle and King County, aided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, launched a case investigation, contact tracing, quarantine of exposed persons, isolation of confirmed and suspected cases, and on-site enhancement of infection prevention and control. Results As of March 18, a total of 167 confirmed cases of Covid-19 affecting 101 residents, 50 health care personnel, and 16 visitors were found to be epidemiologically linked to the facility. Most cases among residents included respiratory illness consistent with Covid-19; however, in 7 residents no symptoms were documented. Hospitalization rates for facility residents, visitors, and staff were 54.5%, 50.0%, and 6.0%, respectively. The case fatality rate for residents was 33.7% (34 of 101). As of March 18, a total of 30 long-term care facilities with at least one confirmed case of Covid-19 had been identified in King County. Conclusions In the context of rapidly escalating Covid-19 outbreaks, proactive steps by long-term care facilities to identify and exclude potentially infected staff and visitors, actively monitor for potentially infected patients, and implement appropriate infection prevention and control measures are needed to prevent the introduction of Covid-19.

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Virology, Epidemiology, Pathogenesis, and Control of COVID-19

Yuefei Jin, Haiyan Yang, Wangquan Ji … (2020)

The outbreak of emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) disease (COVID-19) in China has been brought to global attention and declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. Scientific advancements since the pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002~2003 and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012 have accelerated our understanding of the epidemiology and pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 and the development of therapeutics to treat viral infection. As no specific therapeutics and vaccines are available for disease control, the epidemic of COVID-19 is posing a great threat for global public health. To provide a comprehensive summary to public health authorities and potential readers worldwide, we detail the present understanding of COVID-19 and introduce the current state of development of measures in this review.

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Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Healthcare (Basel)

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Healthcare (Basel)

Journal ID (publisher-id): healthcare

Title: Healthcare

Publisher: MDPI

ISSN (Electronic): 2227-9032

Publication date (Electronic): 25 December 2020

Publication date Collection: January 2021

Volume: 9

Issue: 1

Electronic Location Identifier: 17

Affiliations

[1 ]Legal Medicine, Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padua, 35121 Padova, Italy; anna.aprile@ 123456unipd.it

[2 ]Department of Medicine and Health Sciences “V. Tiberio”, University of Molise, 86100 Campobasso, Italy; marco.trabuccoaurilio@ 123456unimol.it

[3 ]Forensic Medicine, Department of Law, “Magna Graecia” University of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy; giulio.dimizio@ 123456unicz.it

[4 ]Department Experimental Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80138 Naples, Italy; bruno.dellapietra@ 123456unicampania.it (B.D.P.); alessandro.feola@ 123456unicampania.it (A.F.)

Author notes

[* ]Correspondence: matteo.bolcato@ 123456unipd.it ; Tel.: +39-081-778-316

Author information

Matteo Bolcato https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8784-8463

Giulio Di Mizio https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7279-3693

Alessandro Feola https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9666-2636

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Publisher ID: healthcare-09-00017

DOI: 10.3390/healthcare9010017

PMC ID: 7824087

PubMed ID: 33375544

SO-VID: 9d8f6d3d-1d87-4395-8d4f-9ac8664f903e

License:

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Take-Home Messages from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Strengths and Pitfalls of the Italian National Health Service from a Medico-Legal Point of View

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Novel Coronavirus Disease COVID-19

Most cited references 94

Baseline Characteristics and Outcomes of 1591 Patients Infected With SARS-CoV-2 Admitted to ICUs of the Lombardy Region, Italy

Epidemiology of Covid-19 in a Long-Term Care Facility in King County, Washington

Virology, Epidemiology, Pathogenesis, and Control of COVID-19

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