Jarun : Plan to protect doctors needs review

General News - Thursday December 20, 2007

JUSTICE / MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Jarun : Plan to protect doctors needs review

APIRADEE TREERUTKUARKUL

Permanent justice secretary Jarun Pukditanakul is recommending that the Medical Council revise its planned push for a new law aimed at protecting doctors from criminal lawsuits over medical malpractice.

Instead, he said, the council should make use of the existing National Health Act, which would be easier to do.

Mr Jarun said the bid to protect doctors from criminal charges over mistakes that result in death or injury to patients was understandable given the nature of their work.

He said medical malpractice had been occurring for a long time but there had been few lawsuits in the past.

''Social attitudes towards the medical profession have changed drastically since much of the healthcare service is now done by the private sector and it has become a business.

''This attitude has affected the whole public health system, including medical personnel in the state sector,'' he said.

He predicted this trend would continiue, and intensify, in the future.

However, patients should receive sufficient remuneration for damage caused by medical malpractice, in addition to protection being given to doctors.

There should be also mediators with health service expertise to limit disputes between doctors and patients over medical malpractice.

Mr Jarun's statement came just as the Medical Council was moving to protect doctors in the wake of the Thung Song criminal court sentencing Suthiporn Kraimak, a rural doctor at Ron Phibun Hospital in Nakhon Si Thammarat, to three years in jail.

She was found guilty of administering an overdose of anaesthetic to her patient, Somkuan Kaewkongchan, during an appendectomy, resulting in his death five years ago.

It was the first time a doctor has been given a jail term for medical malpractice. Dr Suthiporn's case caused an uproar in the profession, with doctors threatening to stop performing operations at rural hospitals and instead refer patients to big hospitals.

Bangkok Post