MEDIAWATCH:  Abusing justice system with medical notes

 
881Views 0Comments Posted 14/07/2020

The use of false medical certificates in legal proceedings is a crime that punishes doctors and lawyers for the serious damage caused to the impartiality and speed of justice reports La Prensa and  on Tuesday, July 14, Rodrigo Noriega outlined the flaws in the system.

In Panama, there are two procedural systems acting simultaneously. In both systems, excused absences backed by medical certificates are a concern of justice.

In neither system is there a limit to the number of medical certificates or the term covered by them. Let us remember Luis Cucalón's two years of hospitalization.

"Every time a hearing is not held, it causes a series of delays and a huge waste of time and resources," wrote Maribel Cornejo in the opinion pages of La Prensa on June 25, 2009. Cornejo is currently a magistrate. of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court.

According to what seems to be the dominant practice regarding the abuse of medical certificates in Ibero-America, it is the defense attorneys who present document to excuse their clients participation in the processes. This becomes part of the defense strategy.

The new Criminal Procedure Code provides in its article 105 the power of the judge to have the medical certificates submitted by the lawyers verified afterwards to absent themselves from the hearings.

What happens when a medical certificate is found to be false?  There are two types of possible falsity: that of an authentic document but with false content, and that of a totally falsified document.

These conducts are punishable in articles of the Penal Code, which establish penalties for both the doctors who issue the certificates and the lawyers who use them, even if it is for their clients.

Defense strategy.  The use of false medical certificates is a significant problem in Ibero-American judicial processes. It is considered as part of an unethical and procedurally unfair defense strategy.

The Supreme Court of Spain, in a 2014  ruling, disqualified the defense's tactics in a high-profile case, which would be very similar to those known in Panama.

For the Court, the abusive practices of the defense reached the level of “evident procedural fraud”.

That same year, the Colombian Supreme Court of Justice knocked the lower courts for allowing the abuse of dilatory measures and remedies. In Colombia, disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against lawyers due to evident delay in cases.

In Panama, there are no legal provisions on the subject of abusive defense strategies, but there is a mechanism to validate private medical certificates.

Dr. José Vicente Pachar, director of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences,  explained the Panamanian reality: “The Imelcf does not validate or examine the disabilities presented. It is up to the competent authority to request the expertise that it requires within its investigations. ”

In other words, prosecutors or judges, need to end the practice of fake medical certificates.

A prominent Panamanian criminal lawyer suggested that the justice system "should not accept private medical certificates" to avoid the abuse. It is enough that the Supreme Court and the Attorney General's Office send the message to end the era of abusive criminal defense strategies.

 



Related Articles
Free Daily Email
Register here for free daily headlines
Search