OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to analyze, from the perspective of Bioethics, the characteristics of the ethical professional processes of physicians sentenced to have their license revoked in the State of São Paulo. METHODS: Retrospective descriptive study of 41 Ethical Professional Processes of the Regional Board of Medicine of the State of São Paulo which resulted in the revocation of the medical license of 45 physicians, between January, 1988 and December, 2004. All processes were judged by the Federal Board of Medicine. The following variables were collected: origin of accusation, place of occurrence of the facts and time between acknowledgement of the facts and final decision taken by the Federal Board of Medicine, penalty of the Federal Board of Medicine and decision by the Federal Justice. RESULTS: The higher frequency of claims (33.3%) were made through an ex-officio action by the Board, 75.5% of the facts occurred in private institutions and the time between acknowledgement of the facts and the final decision taken by the Federal Board of Medicine was of 8 years and 4 months. Revocation of the medical license was refereed by the Federal Board of Medicine for 25 physicians (55.5%). Of these, 11 physicians appealed and 5 obtained from the Federal Justice annulment of the decisions by the Federal Board of Medicine. CONCLUSION: Under the perspective of Bioethics, revocation of the medical license is necessary for the protection of patients. The patients' vulnerability was the ethical reference of the Board. Teaching and education of Bioethics must necessarily be an important part of medical graduation and post-graduation, however Bioethics must be disseminated (and put into practice) in all segments of society for the purpose of preserving human dignity.
Bioethics; Malpractice; Revocation license; Ethical professional processes
