Physicians should maintain good fellowship among themselves.
confraternity. They owe each other moral assistance.
A physician who has a professional disagreement with his colleague should first try to reconcile with him. If this fails, he must notify the President of the Council of the Order for conciliation.
It is forbidden to slander a colleague, or, or to make comments likely to harm him in the practice of his profession.
It is good confraternity to take the defense of a colleague who has been unjustly attacked.
Any misappropriation or attempted misappropriation of clients is prohibited.
The doctor called a patient treated by one of his colleagues must
respect the following rules:
– If the patient intends to renounce the care of his first doctor, make sure of this express wish and inform the colleague;
– If the patient simply wanted to ask for an opinion without changing the doctor; propose a joint consultation and withdraw after having provided only emergency.
If for a valid reason, the consultation seems impossible or inappropriate, the doctor may examine the patient, but must reserve for his colleague his opinion on the diagnosis and treatment;
– If the patient has called him, due to the absence of his usual doctor: provide care until the return of the colleague and give the latter all useful information.
Subject to the provisions of article 57 of the Law, the doctor may receive in his office all patients, whatever their age, who are not in his practice all patients, irrespective of who is their regular doctor.
The doctor treating a patient shall offer consultation as soon as the
circumstances so require.
He must accept any consultation requested by the patient or his relatives.
In both cases, the attending physician proposes the consultant he/she considers qualified, but he must take account of the patient’s wishes and accept in principle, unless there is a serious reason, to see any other doctor. He is responsible for organizing the arrangements for the consultation. If the attending physician does not feel that he/she should agree to the choice made, he/she has the possibility of withdrawing without being obliged to explain his/her refusal.
At the end of a consultation between two or more doctors, their conclusions must be drawn up jointly and in writing, signed by the attending doctor, and countersigned by the consulting doctor or doctors.
If during a consultation between doctors, the opinions of the consultant and the attending doctor differ on essential points, the attending doctor is free to discontinue care if the consultant’s opinion prevails.
Except in emergencies, the doctor who has been called in for consultation should not return to the patient examined in common, in the absence of the attending physician, or without his approval, during the illness which prompted the consultation. In this case, he shall inform the attending physician as soon as possible.
The Doctor may only be replaced in his practice temporarily
by a colleague, a student, or a doctor not registered with the Order; the Council, which must be informed immediately, shall assess whether the replacement fulfills the conditions of morality.
During the period of replacement, the student or doctor is subject to disciplinary jurisdiction.
A doctor who, during or after his studies, has replaced a colleague
for more than three months, must not, for two years from the end of his replacement, take up a post that would enable him to compete directly with the doctor he has replaced unless there is an agreement between them which must be notified to the Council Order.
Where such an agreement cannot be reached, the case must be submitted to the Council.
A doctor may not be replaced by a fellow civil servant by a State doctor as a technical assistant or a colleague serving in a religious denomination unless there is a shortage of private doctors. The doctor must not move into a building in which a brother of the same specialty is practicing.
Any association or partnership between doctors must be the subject of a written contract that respects the professional independence of each of them.
Draft contracts must be submitted to the Minister of Public Health and the Council of the Order.
It is forbidden for a doctor practicing on an individual basis to be assisted in the normal, usual, and organized exercise of his profession, except in cases of emergency and for a maximum period of fifteen days, of a doctor practicing under his name.