Ethics, liabilities and licensing to practice.

Medical Councils or Boards are the de facto gatekeepers of the work of medical doctors and their interaction with the public. This article examines some of the ethical and medico-legal issues that may arise when biomedical doctors are not licensed in a particular year to practice medicine. It scrutinizes pertinent sections of the Medical Act of Jamaica and considers the ethical implications of the particular predicament for patients and pharmacists who are requested to fill prescriptions written by doctors who are not in receipt of a practising certificate at the time.