Critical review of the requirement, nature and scope of professional disqualification in the Spanish Penal Code, especially in the medical field.

Abstract

This paper critically analyzes three main issues related to the sentence of professional disqualification, and, especially in the medical field. Firstly: the requirement of professional recklessness to be able to give the sentence of professional disqualification; (a proposal is made to withdraw this concept from the Penal Code). Secondly: the obligatory nature of the sentence of professional disqualification as a main sentence (Instead of this, it is proposed to have an optional or facultative nature). Thirdly: in the medical field, the scope of the sentence of professional disqualification is nearly always understood as a disqualification from practicing the medical profession overall; (it is proposed that, in certain cases, it should only be applied as disqualification from the practice of the medical specialty, or even from a specific task within this specialty).