Medical Council seeks to protect doctors
The Medical Council of Thailand has granted 30,000 doctors nationwide the right to turn down patients in non-emergency cases, and also offers protection to doctors who treat patients to the required standard, a source said yesterday.
The move followed a growing number of criminal and civil lawsuits filed against doctors. In the "medical facts" announcement number 46/2549 issued on November 30, the council stated that, "some times in the medical treatment procedure, unwanted circumstances occur despite sufficient caution and care by the medical profession and that shall be regarded as a force majeure". For the patients' benefit, the medical profession could refuse to treat those who were not in a life-threatening condition and that medical professionals who followed the standard medical procedures shall be entitled to rights and protection from unjust accusations. The announcement also stated the work burden, a hospital's limitations, the physical and mental condition of the doctor, as well as the environment, might affect results and the efficiency of treatment. Patients who cover up the true nature of their symptoms and related information along with failing to follow a doctor's advice can affect diagnosis and treatment, it said. Meanwhile, former secretary-general of the Medical Council of Thailand Pinit Kullavanijaya yesterday said the "medical facts" announcement was to explain the rights of doctors to the public. "It is not intended to counteract patients because a doctor's duty is to be good and treat patients the best they can. We've worked on this for nearly four years with many drafts as we wanted to get it right," Pinit said. He said the right to turn down patients was for their benefit as some doctors may not be expert in a certain disease and might feel another doctor has the required knowledge. Pinit said his visits around the Kingdom during the past four years found that doctors were overwhelmed by patients and that 86 per cent of doctors had less than one minute to attend to a patient, while patients had very high expectations of doctors. Meanwhile, Suwat Thianthong, a deputy permanent secretary at the Public Health Ministry, has been assigned to oversee the drafting of a regulation to protect the medical profession from being sued.
|
