The Responsibilities of Medical Practitioners in relation to medical certificates: Medical certificates are legal documents. Medical Practitioners who deliberately issue a false, misleading or inaccurate certificate could face disciplinary action under MCI Regulations 2009, civil or criminal legal action. Medical practitioners can assist their patients by displaying a notice to this effect in their waiting rooms.
Employers may, in reasonable circumstances, seek further information from the medical practitioner who issued a certificate. Before providing any further information to the employer, the medical practitioner should verify the employer's identity and obtain express consent from the patient before disclosure of the further relevant information to their employer. Where an employer contacts the medical practitioner to verify the veracity of a sickness certificate (eg., to determine…
