Medical liability and off-label prescription of medicines in the treatment of Covid 19

Abstract

This article aims to investigate medical responsibility in off-label prescription of drugs for the treatment of patients infected with coronavirus. The analysis of this theme goes through, in its investigative path, the conceptual exploration of off-label prescription, the limits of this prescription and the boundary between lawfulness and illegality in this conduct, checking if there is differentiation in the off-label prescription liability in a pandemic situation and outside of it, with regard to its legal consequences in the field of tort liability. This is an important topic, whose topicality and importance is accentuated in this exceptional period of pandemic, whose repercussion will still be felt in the Courts, in claims for damages that may be proposed by patients who have suffered damage due to experiencing side effects arising from a drug administration based on a medical prescription of this nature. One will seek to point, during the text, some of the various challenges to be faced, as well as their possible solutions, which necessarily include the indication of some requirements that can be admitted as hypotheses of possible off-label prescription, so that it is possible to identify when medical conduct may be considered lawful or unlawful.