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Lin protests decision to revoke license

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Peter Lin (林進興) said yesterday that the decision of Taichung City's health department to revoke his medical license was unreasonable.

During the last days of campaigning for the Dec. 3 elections, Lin, a practicing physician, and 11 other doctors released what they claimed were Taichung Mayor Jason Hu's (胡志強) medical records at a news conference. It was an attempt to thwart Hu's re-election bid by questioning whether he was healthy enough for the post.

The department's disciplinary committee decided on Wednesday to revoke Lin's license for one year, or oblige him to take eight to 24 hours of mandatory courses on medical ethics.

Lin said that Taichung's health department had no right to make the decision as his license was registered in Kaohsiung. Taichung's health department was acting only under Hu's orders, he said.

Lin said the punishment was decided according to articles 23 and 25 of the Doctor's Law (醫師法), which stipulate that a patient's privacy must be protected and revealing patients' medical records or information contravenes medical ethics.

Although the department could have made the decision based on article 29 of the law, which stipulates a fine of between NT$20,000 (US$625) and NT$100,000 for revealing patient records, politics had caused the department to revoke his license instead, Lin said.

In addition, Hu was not "his patient," Lin added.

"I did not reveal my own patient's records. Also, I was acting as a legislator and not a doctor at the time," Lin said. "It had nothing to do with my ethics as a doctor."

Lin said that in the US medical records of political candidates were open to public evaluation, and he was taking the opportunity to push for the same law in the country.

Lin added that he had not "handed out" or "brandished" the records, but only held them in his hand while the media filmed them.

DPP Legislator Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said that he did not think it was appropriate for Lin to reveal the medical records, but that the health department's decision to revoke Lin's license was too harsh and unfair.
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