The Executive Yuan Council today approved an amendment of the Medical Care Act's Article 82-1 proposed by the Department of Health (DOH) and will send it to the Legislature for deliberation.
Premier Sean Chen expressed appreciation to the DOH, the Ministry of Justice and ministers without portfolio Chang San-cheng and Luo Ying-shay for their efforts to draft the amendment, which he said is very comprehensive.
The premier also spoke about an opinion piece about the amendment by Lee Tsu-der, chairman of Taipei Medical University's Board of Trustees, which was published in the United Daily News.
Lee said the Executive Yuan's proposal showed immense goodwill towards medical professionals and appealed to the medical community to avoid professional arrogance and take the opportunity provided by this reform to strengthen self-discipline, improve medical care quality, and establish various mistake avoidance mechanisms to minimize the possibility of medical negligence.
Moreover, in response to society's tolerant attitude towards medical personnel in seeking to save them from criminal prosecution, the medical community should give the public concrete feedback and assurances, Lee said.
In closing, Lee called on medical professionals to build a stable and friendly medical care environment with self-discipline and public support and create a win-win situation for both medical personnel and patients.
"The ideal of tolerance exemplified by this letter is what our society needs most right now," Premier Chen said. He instructed the DOH to respond to Chairman Lee's appeals and help create a more harmonious relationship between patients and caregivers.
Since medical treatments are uncertain and limited in nature, there should be concrete stipulations about when medical personnel have criminal responsibility for the death or injury of a patient in their care, DOH officials stated. They said this amendment would not only clarify criminal responsibility but also provide medical personnel legal standards to abide by, which will help minimize defensive medical treatment and conflicts with patients.
The amendment is summarized as follows:
1. Medical personnel may only bear criminal responsibility if they caused a patient's death or injury by acting with malicious intent or violating mandatory attentive duties and deviating from medical norms. If the patient's death or injury resulted from medical risk, then personnel are exempted from criminal responsibility.
2. The violation of mandatory attentive duties is defined according to the standard of care, equipment, and objective environment at the time and place of treatment.