Malpractice reports drive patients away
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Shanty, not her real name, is reluctant to see a doctor when she gets sick because of all the stories she has heard about medical malpractice.
"I do not want to see a doctor because I am afraid to hear what they might tell me about my health," said the 26-year-old woman.
She said she preferred to consult her sister, a pharmacist, when she was not feeling well.
"I will only see a doctor when I really cannot handle the pains," she told The Jakarta Post.
The media gave extensive coverage to 35 alleged cases of malpractice the Legal Aid Institute for Health filed with the police in 2004. None of these cases has been brought to court.
Last year, the press reported extensively on the case of Agian Isna Naili, 33, who slipped into a persistent vegetative state after being operated on at a hospital in Bogor, West Java.
The deputy chairman of the Press Council, R.H. Siregar, said during a seminar here on Wednesday that stories in the media about medical malpractice could scare people away from seeking medical treatment.
"In order to make a conclusion of malpractice, reporters need to observe the procedures followed by doctors.
"Doctors cannot be accused of malpractice if they do not violate their profession of procedures," Siregar said.
He did not declare the stories in the media inaccurate, only saying that doctors could not be accused of malpractice if they did not violate normal procedures.
He said the press, in its function as a watchdog, should be responsible for helping to protect the trust that people place in the medical community.
"It is important that the media, through the stories they run, does not make the public reluctant to see medical doctors," he said.
To avoid confusing the public, the president of the Indonesian Hospital Association, Adib A. Yahya, said the word "malpractice", meaning a mistake committed by a doctor, should be replaced by the term "medical difficulty".
"People have the tendency to say a doctor is guilty of malpractice if their illness is not cured," said Adib, adding that they might not have been cured because of their failure to follow instructions or because of the unavailability of medical equipment.
He said that to prevent malpractice, hospitals should issue internal regulations, empower medical committees, enforce the medical code of ethics and implement the principle of patient safety.
He also encouraged patients to be more active in asking for explanations of prescriptions issued by doctors.
In cases of medical malpractice, Adib said, patients should first consult with the doctors. If they fail to respond, then the patients should consult with the institutions or hospitals in question, as well as the disciplinary council of Indonesian doctors.
A medicolegal consultant at the University of Indonesia, Herkutanto, said that if malpractice occurred in the city, the Jakarta council for the discipline of medical personnel could be contacted at (021) 345-1338, or at Jl. Kesehatan No. 10, Central Jakarta. (004)