The medical profession, like other professions involving a high degree of social responsibility, is governed by a set of ethical and deontological norms aimed at ensuring quality and integrity in patient care. In Spain, these principles are encapsulated in the Medical Deontology Code (hereinafter, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"MDC\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"), which is drafted and updated by the General Council of Medical Associations (OMC), serving as an essential guide for health professionals in their daily practice.
The MDC outlines the duties and obligations of doctors towards their patients, society, other health professionals, and the medical profession itself. The MDC addresses clinical and technical aspects of medical practice, including guidelines on the doctor-patient relationship, professional secrecy, medical research, continuous education, and professional responsibility, among other topics.
The MDC also regulates interactions among doctors, emphasizing the importance of mutual respect among professionals, stipulating that doctors should treat each other courteously and that criticisms should be constructive and made respectfully, avoiding comments that could harm the reputation of other doctors. Furthermore, the MDC establishes that hierarchical relationships between doctors should not lead to situations of dominance or abuse.
The responsibility to protect and ensure compliance with the MDC primarily lies with the Medical Associations. These associations are professional institutions that not only represent registered doctors in defending their interests but also hold the function of overseeing the correct practice of the medical profession and, particularly, ensuring adherence to the ethical and deontological principles established in the MDC. In the territorial scope of the Autonomous Community of the Balearic Islands, this supervisory function falls on the Official Medical Association of the Balearic Islands (hereinafter, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"COMIB\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\").
The disciplinary procedure is the mechanism available to the Medical Associations to ensure compliance with the MDC. If a breach is confirmed, the procedure can result in significant sanctions, such as fines, reprimands (private or public), or even temporary suspension from practicing the profession.
Within the jurisdiction of the COMIB, the disciplinary procedure is regulated under Title VI of its Statutes. The procedure typically begins following a complaint or grievance filed by patients or colleagues within the profession. In our experience with the COMIB, once a complaint is received, the accused is granted a period to present their version of the facts, followed by a proposed interview with both the accused professional and the complainant. Although not mandatory, we recommend that any doctor summoned to such an interview be accompanied by legal counsel. Despite the informal tone of the interview, the doctor may be asked compromising questions, and their responses could be used as evidence against them during the disciplinary procedure.
Subsequently, the COMIB requests a report from its Deontological Commission to assess whether it is appropriate to formally initiate a disciplinary procedure based on the reported facts. If the Deontological Commission finds no grounds for initiating a disciplinary procedure, the complaint will be archived; otherwise, a disciplinary procedure will be initiated.
It should be noted that the Deontological Commission\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s report, issued before the disciplinary procedure begins, is drafted before the accused can exercise their defense rights, including proposing exculpatory evidence. Therefore, the report at this stage should not determine whether an infraction was committed but merely assess whether there are sufficient grounds to recommend starting a disciplinary procedure. Any decision beyond this level of analysis could precondition the outcome of the subsequent disciplinary procedure, thereby violating basic principles, including the presumption of innocence of the accused.
The disciplinary procedure before the Medical Association generally follows the same phases and applies the same guarantees as a common disciplinary procedure, including principles such as legality, specificity, responsibility, and proportionality. However, a particular aspect of these procedures is that they are conducted and processed by personnel from the medical profession itself. The aim is for doctors to judge their peers, ensuring a high level of professionalism in investigating facts and assessing alleged infractions.
Nevertheless, due to the limited number of disciplinary cases handled by the Medical Associations and, especially, the lack of specific legal training among many participants, it is not uncommon in our experience for procedural errors or decisions that significantly violate the rights of the parties involved to occur. Therefore, we emphasize the importance of having specialized legal advice in such procedures.
At Araújo & Benetti, based in Palma de Mallorca, we are specialists in Administrative Law and have extensive experience in disciplinary procedures, including those handled by the Medical Associations. Do not hesitate to contact us if you need advice in this area.
The content of this publication is for informational purposes only. Any decision or action based on its content should be subject to appropriate professional advice.