Supreme Court seeks Medical Council’s findings related to Thaksin’s hospital stay

The Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders has subpoenaed the findings of the Medical Council’s investigative subcommittee concerning three doctors responsible for the treatment of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra at the Police General Hospital (PGH).

An informed source in the Medical Council said the court’s letter was officially received by the council on Thursday and that it will immediately forward the findings to the court.

The investigative panel has faulted the three doctors, two at the PGH and one at the Corrections Department’s hospital, for ethical misconduct. The panel also ruled that there was no empirical evidence to prove that Thaksin was critically ill.

The Medical Council decided to suspend the licenses of the two PGH doctors temporarily and formally to warn the doctor at the Corrections Department’s hospital.

The decision was vetoed by Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin, but the veto was eventually overturned by the votes of more than two-thirds of the council’s members.

The court has also subpoenaed the report of an investigation into the same matter from the National Human Rights Commission.

The report concluded that it could not be confirmed that Thaksin was ill enough to warrant his stay at the PGH for 181 days, without spending a night of his sentence in a prison.

The court is currently holding an enquiry to determine whether the prison sentence imposed on Thaksin, on a corruption conviction, was actually enforced by the Corrections Department.