The Tamil Nadu Medical Council has suspended the licence of two doctors –a private practitioner and an assistant professor in a government medical college hospital –for issuing identity certificate for deceased persons.
While the private practitioner only had his licence suspended for three months, the government doctor cannot practice medicine for two years. The Council was dissatisfied with the explanation provided by the doctors.
K. Badri Prasad, the private practitioner, had issued certificates in Hosur for two deceased persons identified as Sabitha, who died on October 16, 2019, and Shylaja Jayasurya, who died on July 18, 2020. He issued certificates on Sept 7, 2020, stating that both the women were alive on the mentioned date. He also attested their photographs, said R. Vinod Kumar, the complainant from Bengaluru.
The Council said Dr. Prasad had explained, “As those persons were wearing masks and standing at about six feet behind a big plastic sheet during rush hours, he could not find any difference with the facial and physical identities despite a sincere verification with the Aadhar card, and therefore issued the Certificate.”
The Council, however, termed it a misconduct “as per regulation 7.7 of Tamil Nadu Medical Council Code of Medical Ethics (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2003, thereby violating the code of Medical Ethics which warrants disciplinary action as per Regulation 8.1 of Code of Medical Ethics.” “Not ascertaining identity is negligence on the part of the doctor,” said Council president K. Senthil.
In the second incident, Santhini, an assistant professor in Vellore Medical College had given an identity certificate on January 10, 2018 for a person who had died on July 2, 2015. One of the siblings of R. Krishnakumar, the deceased, and the father-in-law of Dr. Santhini, had asked her to provide an identity certificate to transfer Krishnakumar’s property to his name.
The complainant in this case was Krishnakumar’s wife, Sudha. “The doctor cannot say she signed a certificate out of ignorance. By signing a certificate they have brought alive the power of attorney of a dead person and transferred the property,” Dr. Senthil said.
Dr. Santhini claimed that her father-in-law had told her that his siblings were alive and that he wanted the property transferred when all of them were healthy and alive. She had taken his word and signed the certificate, she told the Council. The Council, however, did not find the explanation satisfactory.
“Medical Certificates are legal documents and the statements certified by the Registered Medical Practitioners should be based on clear and relevant evidence,” the Council said in its order.
The Council suspended her right to practice for two years. It has not only deleted her name from the TNMC medical register but also asked her to surrender her original registration certificate immediately.
