As the national and international coronavirus crisis is still moving toward its peak, one of the few bright spots has been hearing about the daily acts of support for the many medical professionals who are on the front lines of combat. People and restaurants have been cooking and donating meals, factories have been switching production to create protective gear, families have been loaning their campers and trailers so doctors and nurses have a place to isolate when they’re off work. And in a collective action known by the hashtag “#Solidarityat8” individuals are flickering their lights, cheering, banging on pots or otherwise making noise from their porches in order to honor the health care workers who are serving during this crisis. The image at the top of this article is an artistic tribute to these professionals: a sidewalk chalk drawing created by the daughter of a lawyer I know.

These spontaneous acts show the depth and breadth of support for doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals in these most difficult of times. Even in normal times, that respect is very high, but that doesn’t stop them from being targets for litigation. Even as trials are on pause across the country, the machine has not stopped. On the day this article posts, I will be conducting a preparation session (by video-conference, of course) for an emergency-room physician. And, once the crisis has peaked, there may even be a wave of lawsuits based on the resource scarcity or the triaging decisions that were made during the epidemic. Even if that comes to pass, the generally high respect that the public accords to those in medicine is part of the legal landscape. In this post, I will take a look at some polling on views of medical professionals and discuss some implications.

The Data: 

I have not come across new polling on views toward doctors and nurses in the past month, but given the heightened attention, it is ripe for investigation. The Pew Research Center did come out with an article in March on the subject, but it is based on earlier data. That data, also discussed in an article at the end of last year, provide some background on the foundations for the public’s reactions. I would expect current views to be even more favorable, but to follow the same general patterns.

Strong Support 

Nearly three-quarters of surveyed adults (74 percent) say that they have a “mostly positive” view of doctors. That is remarkably high when you compare it to approval rates for other social roles, like elected officials (35 percent) or business leaders (46 percent).

Demographics Matter

Some individuals have had a negative outcome in a healthcare context, and that  experience likely mediates their views of medical professionals. The Pew research also shows that demographics matter. Older adults are more likely to express a high amount of faith in doctors. Among those 50 and older, a majority (56 percent), believe doctors do a good job providing diagnoses and treatment recommendations all or most of the time, compared with a minority (42 percent) of those under 50 who say the same. In addition, African-Americans are more likely to see medical malpractice to be at least a moderately big problem (71 percent), compared to Hispanics (63 percent) and Caucasians (43 percent). Finally, familiarity matters, and the proportion of those who say that doctors care about the best interests of their patients is stronger among those who report knowing a lot about the work of medical doctors (65 percent), compared to those who say they know only a little about the work of doctors (53 percent).

And There Are Some Weak Spots

On most measures of social approval, medical professionals scored highly. But there were two exceptions: the proportion agreeing that doctors are transparent about potential conflicts of interest with industry groups is just 15 percent; and those who say that doctors admit mistakes and take responsibility all or most of the time, is just 12 percent.

Implications: All Sides Should Understand and Adapt to the Bias

It might feel wrong to refer to physician favorability as a “bias,” but I do not mean it in a pejorative sense. From a psychological perspective, a decision-making bias is anything that predisposes individuals in a certain direction, and our motivated tendency to support medical personnel certainly fits that definition. Particularly in times like these, it may feel like a justified bias, but truth be told, individuals will apply a subjective justification to many biases.

Ultimately, you will want to see how the generalized bias factors into the specific pattern of your case. For example, it is unlikely that favorability applies evenly across specializations. Right now, for example, a plastic surgeon probably doesn’t benefit from the favorability applied to emergency room doctors and hospitalists. In the context of the case story, the general attitude will also just create a default starting position. It will still be the job of the plaintiffs’ attorneys to push a particular doctor outside of that circle of trust, and the job of the defense attorneys to pull the doctor back toward the center of that circle. In thinking of the jurors, it helps to act as though they are asking themselves the question, “Does this doctor belong within the favorable view that I have toward medical professionals generally, or is there something different about this particular doctor on this particular day that says that they don’t merit that attitude?”

Now, however, outside the context of any litigation, it makes sense to wish for the best for all who are fighting on the front lines of the epidemic.

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Image credit: A photograph of sidewalk artwork by Rachel Elizabeth Lemoine, used with permission.