Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin has rejected the Medical Council’s decision to discipline three doctors over their handling of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s stay on the 14th floor of the Police General Hospital (PGH), from mid-August 2023 until February last year.
According to the ISRA News Agency, Somsak’s decision was sent to the council on Wednesday.
On May 8, the Medical Council decided to suspend temporarily the medical licenses of Pol Lt-Gen Sophonrat Singhacharu, former chief doctor at the PGH, and Pol Lt-Gen Thaweesilp Wechvitarn, the incumbent chief doctor at PGH.
The third doctor, Dr. Ruamthip Supanan, of the Corrections Department’s hospital, was issued with a warning.
The council dismissed the charge against a fourth doctor, Dr. Wattanachai Mingbancherdsuk.
In rejecting the council’s ruling against the three doctors, Somsak, in his capacity as special chair of the council, claimed that their conduct did not constitute a breach of medical ethics.
A well-informed source noted that Somsak based his judgement on their actions being matters of discretion, pointing out that discretion is not a matter that can easily be judged as to whether it is right or wrong. In medical practice, the use of discretion by a doctor can be judged by taking into consideration the standard of treatment and impact on the patient.
After having taken into consideration the facts and evidence from the investigation, and opinions from all parties concerned, the three doctors did not breach medical ethics, under-perform or give any false information, said the source, quoting Somsak’s opinion.
The three doctors’ opinions were those pertaining to the care of a post-operative patient, who was suffering from several illnesses, and these opinions are standard for doctors in general in the aftermath of a surgery, the source quoted as being Somsak’s reasoning.
The Medical Council had ruled, however, that there was no empirical evidence to suggest that the patient, Thaksin, was in a critical state of health.
The council will now require two-thirds of its 70 members to uphold its decision to discipline the three doctors.
