The Medical Council yesterday vowed to conditionally support the draft bill on Medical Malpractice Victim Protection which it has opposed for several weeks - saying doctors would be protected if the bill did not allow patients to file a law suit against them after receiving compensation.
The deciding resolution came after a meeting of council executives held yesterday at the Medical Council.
Council president Dr Somsak Lohlekha said some executives agreed to support the draft bill - provided articles which could damage doctors were revised, such as article 5 (2) and article 6. Also articles 38 to 41, about the negotiation process for compensation between doctor and patient, must be deleted from the draft bill.
Somsak said article 5 (2) - that patients must not file law suits against doctor after they receive compensation from the nofault compensation fund, should be revised.
Similarly, article 6 - that compensation should not be paid in the event that damages suffered by the victims are common symptoms of a disease, should also be revised. Also, when treatment has finished, compensation should not be paid for damage that did not trouble the patient.
" If the bill is revised to the Medical Council's suggestion, I think doctors would be happy as they need not worry about law suits or finding money to pay for compensation," Somsak said.
He said this resolution would be brought to a meeting of the council's adhoc panel of 80 medical workers and physicians to discuss the bill in detail next Friday.
He accepted that the council's executive had changed its stance because the council had learnt it could not fight the government's campaign which supports the bill.