A self-certification for the first three days of absence from work due to illness. This is the proposal of the senator of Italia dei valori, Maurizio Romani, who has just arrived in the Constitutional Affairs commission of the Senate and is supported by the Federation of Medical Associations (Fnomceo) which has been calling for a revision of the Brunetta law in this sense for four years.
"In all cases of absence due to protracted illness for a period of less than three days - reads the text - the worker communicates his state of health to the attending physician under his sole responsibility, who shall forward a specific electronic communication to the Institute national social security system, as well as to the employer".
Romani explains that "those who are clever assume the responsibility of having made a false self-justification: they no longer have their backs covered by the certificate of their own doctor, who limits himself to acting as a 'postman' by sending the patient's declaration to the IPNS , and sees it directly with the tax doctor sent by INPS. The process has just begun but, if the political will is there, it can be approved by the end of the legislature”.
According to Maurizio Scassola, vice president of Fnomceo, “it is not a question of endorsing self-diagnosis over the telephone, the relationship between doctor and patient remains alive and active. There are disorders, such as headaches or mild gastroenteritis, the diagnosis of which can only be made on the basis of clinically non-objectifiable symptoms. In these cases, the doctor must limit himself, within the relationship of trust that binds him to the patient, to take note of what has been complained about. We believe that a self-declaration could be useful, even before relieving the doctor, to make the patient responsible, as is already the case, with excellent results, in many Anglo-Saxon countries. I don't think it favors absenteeism, I am confident that we are a mature country”.
But that's not all: the bill also reduces the penalties for doctors established by the Brunetta law in the event of false certification. “Currently – continues Scassola – doctors can lose their agreement, go before the criminal judge or be fined for thousands of euros just for having obtained a certificate under particular conditions, for example by telephone. This is obviously not correct in an ethical-deontological sense, but in everyday compulsive activity it is something that can happen. And today the penalties are exorbitant compared to the extent of this type of error”.
