Under the Nigerian medical law, a medical practitioner may be guilty of an offence if he engages in any of the following:



1. Self-advertisement. According to Collins dictionary, self-advertisement is the "act of gaining publicity for oneself and one's activities especially through pushy, extrovert behaviour and not hesitating to put oneself forward". Is there a thin line between enlightenment/campaigns and advertisement? In my opinion, what will amount to publicity can only be left to the judge or disciplinary committee to decide.


2. Adultery or Improper sexual relations with a patient. A medical doctor should in the cause of carrying out his/her duty maintain strict business-like attitude with patients. Any form of hanky panky or inappropriate teasing can lead to undesirable closeness or intimacy between the two. As it is known the world over, a doctor-patient relationship is a fiduciary one, patients are considered vulnerable and must be protected. Even a defence of consent may not exonerate a medical doctor because he is considered to have taken undue advantage of his patient-victim.



3. Issuance of fake medical report. A medical practitioner is liable for professional misconduct if he knowingly issues a fake or misleading medical report. He/she must consider themselves as a trustee for public health and must not be seen to derail public health security.


4. Abortion. Under the Nigerian law, abortion is illegal. It carries a jail sentence of up to 14 years- unless it is done to save the life of the pregnant woman. Thus, medical practitioners in Nigeria are prohibited from suggesting and performing any act to terminate a pregnancy unless the case is an exception to the general rule.


5. Extortion of money from patients. Medical doctors are not expected to coerce patients into paying unnecessary fees under any guise. Obtaining money from patient by taking advantage of their poor health issues will render a medical doctor liable for professional misconduct.


For more educating topics about the laws governing all aspects of life go here > www.theloyalnigerianlawyer.com


References: Cap. 386 & 221 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/self-advertisement

Wow lalasticlala Oya ó. This is educative

.

kk

Well, all of these are common practices under the ur Nigerian medical whatever.

apparently our medical doctors are guilty of all these practices.

as for me and my family, native-doctor any day any time.

Okay.....seen

So who is now doing the abortion?
Herbalists?

Abortion
That shiii rakes in money like mad

This is what I want to see on front page, not snake stories.

Smh

Na NYSC corpers sabi No. 3 pass the medical practitioners.

G

[color=#006600][/color] ;Dabortion? ;Dabortion?

Na before I dey respect naija doctors.

Quacks here and there

Noted

Saving life's should be on the list.

Cos Nigerian doctors re good at killing there patients

herzern:
Somethinq should be done about Medical doctors handwritinq.

Their handwritinq is more like a drawinq..The comical part is that no matter what is written..A Pharmacist will always decode..

Seconded.

aljazira:
Na NYSC corpers sabi No. 3 pass the medical practitioners.

lol, I can relate to this..

... Informative.

Cool

are you sure i have never seen hospital advert on tv??

blackaxe78:
Saving life's should be on the list.

Cos Nigerian doctors re good at killing there patients

... A large percentage of this blame, should be apportioned to poor medical facilities.

Ok

It's because if the abortion rules that u find alot of quacks doing it.....and ladies end up with complications ranging from severe life threatening conditions to infertility later in life. Little wonders why we have alot of women that are infertile today. Truth is whether we like it or not or law dey or not....women will still have unwanted pregnancies and always seek abortion. This law don't mean people will stop have sex?wil, it?

Also.....tell me we don't know someone or even us that as not at one time asked for a fake medical report from a doctor....nysc redeployment is a notorious reason. Nigerians will be the one asking about oooh...Saying they need a doctor that can write a flak medical report. Yet they will be the same to crictisze the same doctors

What of revealing the patients health records to people? The younger ones are good at that.

herzern:
Somethinq should be done about Medical doctors handwritinq.

Their handwritinq is more like a drawinq..The comical part is that no matter what is written..A Pharmacist will always decode..

Dat's so UNtrue.
Agreed, a few av poor handwriting buh dat doesn't mean every Dr has poor handwriting.
Like u said, a Pharmacist (& other health workers) r able 2 read such writings, buh av u ever asked Y?
Well, reason is more cos d prescription (& other medical write-ups contain codes/ symbols /terms et al wc others (outside medical practice or not directly involved in patient's care) do not understand.