A provision in the Child Care and Protection Act has reportedly driven fear into some doctors who, as a consequence, are refusing to carry out their reporting duty under the legislation.

Section 6 of the Child Care and Protection Act requires doctors to report any instance of sexual abuse of a minor that comes to their attention for treatment.

Doctors reluctant

But, according to Sophia Frazer Binns, legal policy officer at the Office of the Children's Advocate, some doctors are reluctant to carry out this responsibility.

"When it is raised with some persons responsible for reporting these offences they say when they talk it will be known that they were the ones who talked, and they will ask, what will happen to them," she told the Joint Select Committee of Parliament considering legislation targeting new sexual offences.

Dr. Judith Leiba of the Ministry of Health confirmed that this concern had been raised by medical doctors in training sessions focused on adherence to the Child Care and Protection Act.

"The doctor feels particularly at risk because he is the person to whom the child has been brought so, from the doctor's perspective, he is number one on the hit list! So they feel particularly threatened and they need a lot of reassurance," she told the committee.

When contacted by The Gleaner, Dr. Errol Dunkley, a former president of the Medical Association of Jamaica, said the association had received no report of such fears on the part of its members.

While some doctors traditionally sought to protect their privileged conversation with patients under the rule of doctor-patient confidentiality, the recently enacted Child Care and Protection Act takes away that protection. Similarly, the confidentiality of the lawyer-client relationship has been overridden by this piece of legislation in respect of offences relating to children.