2010-100869

MEMORANDUM

TO: ASSOCIATE DATE:
15 March 2014

FROM: PARTNER




Re: Medical Practice

HIRING DOCTORS AS EMPLOYEES
A hospital may indeed hire doctors as its employees. R.A. 4226 which provide for licensure of
hospitals provides that Hospitals shall mean a place devoted primarily to the maintenance and
operation of facilities for the diagnosis, treatment and care of individuals or in the alternative,
any institution, building or place where there are installed beds, or cribs, or bassinets for
twenty-four-hour use or longer by patients Basically, a hospital is the venue where treatment
and care of patients is undertaken and has nothing to do with practicing medicine. In that vain,
R.A. 2382, or the medical act of 1959 provides that:
Section 8. Prerequisite to the practice of medicine. No person shall engage in the
practice of medicine in the Philippines unless he is at least twenty-one years of
age, has satisfactorily passed the corresponding Board Examination, and is a
holder of a valid Certificate of Registration duly issued to him by the Board of
Medical Examiners.
xxx xxx xxx
Section 10. Acts constituting practice of medicine. A person shall be considered
as engaged in the practice of medicine (a) who shall, for compensation, fee, salary
or reward in any form, paid to him directly or through another, or even without
the same, physical examine any person, and diagnose, treat, operate or prescribe
any remedy for any human disease, injury, deformity, physical, mental or physical
condition or any ailment, real or imaginary, regardless of the nature of the remedy
or treatment administered, prescribed or recommended; or (b) who shall, by
means of signs, cards, advertisements, written or printed matter, or through the
radio, television or any other means of communication, either offer or undertake
by any means or method to diagnose, treat, operate or prescribe any remedy for
any human disease, injury, deformity, physical, mental or physical condition; or
(c) who shall use the title M.D. after his name.
From the foregoing definition of the practice of medicine, it can be inferred that such practices
can only be performed by natural persons, treating for compensation, advertising and using the
title of M.D. The hospital corporation acts merely as a facilitator or venue for the doctors
practices.
RIGHT TO FORM UNIONS
One issue that arises however with hiring doctors as employees is the question of unions.
Although doctors are highly specialized professionals, their status as employees of a corporation
puts them down to the level of rank and file employees. This is due to the fact that they have no
other duty than to treat patients unless such Doctors were given Managerial positions which
would make them privy to confidential information of the corporation. Absent Managerial
privity, no less than the Constitution
1
guarantees their right to association and is further espoused
in the Labor Code:
Art. 243. Coverage and employees right to self-organization. All persons
employed in commercial, industrial and agricultural enterprises and in religious,
charitable, medical or educational institutions, whether operating for profit or not,
shall have the right to self-organization and to form, join, or assist labor
organizations of their own choosing for purposes of collective bargaining.

LIABILITIES

Finally, a very important issue with employing doctors as employees is that it makes the Hospital
Corporation vulnerable to liabilities arising from medical negligence done by the doctors. The
Civil Code provides that:
Art. 2176. Whoever by act or omission causes damage to another, there being fault or
negligence is obliged to pay for the damage done. Such fault or negligence, if there is no
pre-existing contractual relation between the parties, is called a quasi-delict and is
governed by the provisions of this Chapter.
xxxx
Art. 2180. The obligation imposed by Art. 2176 is demandable not only for ones own
acts or omissions but also for those of persons for whom one is responsible.
xxxx

1
Phil. Const. art. III, 8

Employers shall be liable for the damage caused by their employees
xxxx
The responsibility treated of in this article shall cease when the persons herein mentioned
prove that they observed all the diligence of a good father of a family to prevent damage.
This means that the Hospital shall be presumed to be negligent and solidary liable with the
negligent doctor. The presumption can only be rebutted if the Hospital proves that it exercises
Due Diligence Of A Good Father Of A Family in the selection and supervision of its employees.
It would be wise for the Hospital to check the credentials of any prospective doctors that they
will hire in the future.