Using discretion in issuing administrative orders of the Medical Council Professional Organization

Abstract

Physicians are medical professionals who have high expectations from society, with high standard professional performance and patients rely on. But sometimes they are sued by patients and/or their relatives because of not as expected treatment results or founding medical damages.The Medical Council is a legal organization, but the legal status of the Medical Council organization is still unclear ether as a juristic person under private law or a juristic person under public law. The Medical Council has the actions in varying ways. Some actions are considered not the order, but some actions are realized as the general orders. The Medical Council's order comes from the exercise of discretion before making the order, that effected to related person by the actions and orders of the Medical Council.This article presents 1. The legal status of Medical Council of Thailand 2. Administrative order 3. The discretionary power of administrative orders issued by Medical Council of Thailand. Our findings conclude the following topics. 1. Medical Council of Thailand is a juristic entity under the private law, possessing an administrative authority over medical profession despite not being a part of the administrative branch of the government. 2. Administrative orders must comply with five characteristics to form a legal binding that impacts the rights or duties of individuals. These characteristics include, (1) Issued by the authorized officials, (2) grounded in government legislation, (3) establishing legal binding status, (4) Having a case-by-case effect, and (5) Directly affects external entities. 3. The discretion exercised by the Medical Council in issuing administrative orders is based on complaints made by council members regarding individual act which deemed to be illegal, investigations must be done to determine the aspect of profession's ethics that have been violated along with appropriate penalties then the administrative order can be issued accordingly. Members of the council can veto such action by filing a lawsuit with the Administrative Court.Keywords: Discretionary power, Administrative orders, Medical Council of Thailand