MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE: THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE

Sergio P. Paguio, MD., LL.B., FPSP, FPSO

Quiz Recap

1. What is Medical Jurisprudence?

- Medical jurisprudence is a set of laws that govern the practice of
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medicine.

2. What do you call the law that is not enforced by the state?
- Non-jural law
3. Who is responsible for administering the Physicians Licensure Exam, the
PRC or the Board of Medicine?

Board of Medicine

4. Under what power of the state is health included?

- Police power
5. What is the goal of the profession of medicine?
- Service to humanity

2. Who shall by means of signs, cards, advertisement, written or printed

matter, or through the radio, television or any other means of

communication, either offer or undertake by any means or method to
diagnose, treat, operate, or prescribe any remedy for any human
disease, injury, deformity, physical mental or psychical condition.

The purpose of this 2nd provision is to protect the people who

through deceptive advertisement or machination may be able to induce
them to be under the medical service of one who is not in a capacity to
do so.

*What to place in your prescription pad:

1. Name
2. Field of Practice
3. Clinic hours in various hospitals you are affiliated with
4. Initials of the degrees you achieved as a physician

Example:
What is the practice of medicine?

Is a privilege or franchise granted by the state to any person to

perform medical acts upon compliance with law.

The law referred to is the Medical Act of 1959.

The practice of medicine consists of judging the nature, character and
symptoms of a disease, in determining the proper remedy to the
disease.
The practice of medicine means the diagnosis and application and the
use of medicine and drugs for curing, mitigating or relieving bodily
disease or conditions.
*Any form of treatment (i.e. traditional or non-traditional) can be considered
as practice of medicine as long as these procedures are done by a duly
licensed physician,
ACTS CONSITITUTING THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE

1. Who shall, For compensation fee, salary or reward in any form paid to
him directly or indirectly or through another, or even without the same,
physically examine any person and diagnose, treat, operate or prescribe
any remedy for human disease, injury, deformity, mental or physical
condition or any ailment, real or imaginary, regardless of the nature of
remedy or treatment administered, prescribed or recommended.

From the first provision:

Physically examine a person and diagnose
Physically examine a person and treat
Physically examine a person and operate
Physically examine a person and prescribe any remedy.

Provided that the above mentioned acts are performed, the following
do not affect the act as to the practice of medicine:

Whether or not the act was done with or without compensation.

Regardless of the nature of the remedy or treatment

administered.
DEFINITION OF TERMS:

MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS - is the art of balancing probabilities.

DIAGNOSIS - is a mental process whereby one or more persons

appraise a situation and make a decision based on their judgment that
may or may not lead to action.

TREATMENT all steps taken to effect a cure of an injury or

disease.

OPERATION - is an act or succession of acts performed upon the

body of a patient for his relief or restoration of normal condition. Either
by manipulation or the use of surgical instruments or both.

PRESCRIPTION is a direction of remedy or remedies for a disease

and the manner of using them; a formula for the preparation of a drug
and a medicine.
Transcribed by: KC

*NEVER place the name of the institution where you trained in because it is
considered unethical. See paragraph above for the reason why.
*It is NOT unethical to place your diploma in your clinic.

3. Who shall use the title of M.D after his name.

*Post Graduate Interns (PGI) are NOT allowed to affix M.D. after their names
because of the premise that they havent passed the Physicians Licensure
exam yet.
*The title Doctor can be added to their names during internship.
3 Medical Schools granted with CHED Deregulated Status

1. UPCM
2. UST-FMS
3. PLM-CM

WHO ARE QUALIFIED TO PRACTICE MEDICINE IN THE PHILIPPINES?

1. Those who complied with the prerequisites to the practice of medicine

in accordance with the medical act.

2. Those

who can have limited practice without any certificate of

registration.

Ex. Foreign doctors doing medical missions for

Operation Smile. They are allowed to operate on patients with
cleft palate but they are not allowed to prescribe medications as
their permit is limited

3. Balikbayan physicians P.D 541 allowing former Filipino Professionals to

practice their respective professions in the Philippines.

Possible if the physician is board certified in the

Philippines. If the physician ever comes back, he/she will just go to
PRC and present a certification that he/she practiced abroad.

4. Those

foreign physicians qualified to practice by reciprocity or by

endorsement.

Applicable to the Reciprocity Clause

5. Limited practitioners of healing art.

Ex. Physicians who practice acupuncture

6. Medical Students renders service under the direct supervision and
control of registered physician without any compensation.

Sometimes, the patients give gifts if you have

established rapport with them. Some see it as a form of
compensation but if the purpose of the patient is not to reward
you for your service, it is not unethical to receive gifts.

Only NATURAL person can practice medicine. (starts at birth and ends at
death).
CLASSIFICATION OF MEDICAL PRATICE

1. As to the scope of practice:

a. General
b. Specialist
2. As to the venue of practice:
a. Clinic
b. Hospital
3. As to number:
a. individual
b. group

*If the hospital you trained in isnt accredited by a medical organization, you
are still considered to have earned your residency training but you are not
entitled to work in tertiary hospital.
*Group practice is beneficial due to referral system.
PHYSICIAN

Licensed Physician
License to practice medicine
One who has received a degree from an institution and one that is
lawfully engaged in the practice of medicine.

WHO definition:

is a person who after completing his secondary

education follows a prescribed course of medicine at a recognized
university or medical school.
PENALTIES OF ILLEGAL PRACTICE:

A.

CIVIL LIABILITIES :
There is a wrongful act of a physician.
A civil suit is filed against physicians and/or hospitals
are premised on recovery of damages for their wrongful act or of
the employees.
*related to money

*related to moral trepidation

HIPPOCRATIC OATH

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this

covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in

whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with
those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are
required, avoiding those twin traps of over-treatment and therapeutic
nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science,

and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the
surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in
my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's
recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not
disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread
with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all
thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome
responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of
my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous

growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's
family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related
problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable

to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special

obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and
body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected
while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act
so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long
experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.
Those who cannot practice medicine anymore are the following:

1. Those with revoked license

2. Those with extreme physical disability
3. Those of unsound mental status
4. Those with highly infectious disease.
References

Dr. Paguios Power Point

KCs notes

END OF TRANS

B.

CRIMINAL LIABILITIES:
When the act or omission of a physician constitute a
crime, which may be done with deliberate intent or on account of
imprudence, negligence, lack of foresight or lack of skills.

Proof beyond reasonable doubt.

*No doctor in the Philippines has been charged of criminal liabilities yet
*Criminal liabilities are considered if the act is done deliberately or on
account of imprudence
*if you have done everything in your power to help the patient, it doesnt
make you liable; starts with a complete history and physical exam and proper
record keeping.
* The patients chart is for your eyes only.
*The clinical abstract is given to the court in lieu of the medical record.

C.ADMINISTRATIVE LIABILITIES
Penalty imposable is reprimand or suspension or revocation of

license

File at Professional Regulations Commission

Transcribed by: KC