A doctor who has worked in youth healthcare for years has rightly lost her registration as a pediatrician. The Council of State rules this in an appeal that the doctor brought against the Registration Committee for Medical Specialists (RGS).
The doctor had been registered in the register of paediatricians since January 1995, according to the ruling. In August 2019, she applied to the RGS for re-registration. In addition, she indicated that in the previous years she had worked in youth health care, in primary care and as a doctor in special education. After first seeking advice from the Dutch Pediatric Association (NVK), the RGS rejected the doctor’s request for re-registration. The committee did not regard the activities of the physician as those of a paediatrician.
Not a valid distinction
The doctor herself believes that the work she has performed does fit within the specialty of paediatrics. She states, among other things, that there is no distinction supported by the professional group between the specialty of paediatrics and the KNMG paediatrician profile. She also believes that the advice of the NVK is wrongly not based on a verifiable description of the activities of a paediatrician and that the RGS has wrongly single-handedly limited the definition of paediatrics. She also points out that in 2014 she was already re-registered as a pediatrician on the basis of the same activities.
Work performed is decisive
However, the Council of State rules that the nature of the work performed by the doctor is decisive. Her activities at the GGD are insufficiently comparable to those of a paediatrician. As far as the Council of State is concerned, her activities fit almost entirely within the work domain of the youth doctor within youth health care, with a focus on guidance and prevention and hardly any (independent) diagnostics and few curative tasks. In addition, the Council of State states that patients must be able to trust that a paediatrician meets all requirements applicable to that specialism. Therefore, great weight must be attached to the protection of the interests that the RGS promotes through the re-registration system. Finally, the Council of State is of the opinion that doctors are not hindered in their work because they cannot re-register as a paediatrician. She may still use the title ‘paediatrician, not practicing’.
