Atestado médico (PDF)

Doctor's certificate: a doctors normative act.
In Brazils recently democratically ruled society, there is a growing demand for doctors certificates, as well as complaints about them, especially the 'sick note'. In view of this, the present text analyses the doctors certificate, as a document pertaining to the doctors practice, and which interests not only the patient but various sectors of society, especially the State. Doctor's certificates or declarations have wide legal repercussions and so only doctors recognized by the state are allowed to write these documents. Therefore this type of doctors note is named here a 'doctor normative act' or a 'doctor second grade act'. Starting then from the normative framework, which supports doctor's certificates and includes them in the category of documents, their essential elements were then identified and a very simple model was outlined. This model can be used as a guide for physicians when writing sick notes or other textual declarations required within a doctors professional area of expertise, and can offer doctors more security by virtue of normative acts. Due to the broad spectrum covered by doctors certificates involving whom they are addressed to and their specific aims, it is still taken into account the fact that the final format of a doctors certificate can only be established at the actual interaction between doctor and patient, taking into consideration also the outline agreed upon by the State.