Taiwan Medical Association (TMA) members yesterday criticized the Legislative Yuan’s proposal to amend a law to allow non-physicians to become qualified as forensic pathologists, saying that only physicians have the expertise necessary for the job.
However, the Taiwan Society of Forensic Medicine said that forensic pathologists and physicians require different skills, and the rule change is not designed to exclude physicians, who are welcome to train to become forensic pathologists.
The preliminary reading of the amendment — which would exclude physicians from performing examinations and autopsies on cadavers unless in conditions of major disasters or when there are insufficient forensic pathologists — was passed and the amendment is scheduled to go into effect on Dec. 29.
The amendment might bring about a situation in which none of the nation’s forensic pathologists are physicians, as is the case in China, cuurently the only country in the world that allows non-physicians to serve as forensic pathologists, he said.
The Taiwan Society of Pathology has already given forensic pathologist certification to 29 physicians, and a survey by the Ministry of Justice showed that many physicians specialized in pathology are willing to study forensic pathology and become forensic pathologists, Tsai said.
Physicians are generally trained to treat the living, but forensic pathologists examine corpses, so there are differences in their skill-sets, Taiwan Society of Forensic Medicine chairperson James Lee (李俊億) said.
However, several physicians work part-time as forensic pathologists, because physicians specializing in pathology are not required to take special training and pass a forensic pathology test to take up part-time jobs, he said.
The society is in favor of amending the law so that all forensic pathologists — whether they are physicians or not — would need to receive specialized training and certification, he said.
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