The Conselho Federal de Medicina (CFM, Portuguese for ''Federal Council of Medicine'') is the

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian independent public agency of the Ministry of Work and Employment officially in charge of professional regulation and medical licensing in the area of

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

in the country. It is headquartered in

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

, in the

federal district A federal district is a specific administrative division in one of various federations. These districts may be under the direct jurisdiction of a federation's national government, as in the case of federal territory (e.g., India, Malaysia), or the ...

. The CFM is represented by a regional council in each

Brazilian state The federative units of Brazil () are subnational entities with a certain degree of autonomy (self-government, self-regulation, and self-collection) and endowed with their own government and constitution, which together form the Federative Repu ...

, which have essentially the same mission as the federal council at state level, including issuing the annual license to practice medicine to

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

s, which is valid within that state only. The councils are supported by annual contributions required of all those practicing medicine in Brazil. The councilors are necessarily doctors, who are elected by their peers for a purely honorary office, without any

remuneration Remuneration is the pay or other financial compensation provided in exchange for an employee's ''services performed'' (not to be confused with giving (away), or donating, or the act of providing to). Remuneration is one component of reward managem ...

. In addition to the

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

functions, such as professional registration of doctors and their titles, the Federal Council and the Medical Board are, under law, the supervisory bodies of professional ethics, which it must ensure and work, by all means at its disposal, toward the perfect performance of ethical medicine and the prestige and good reputation of the profession. To fulfill its

statutory A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

functions, the regional councils function as courts, hearing complaints against physicians and establishing the ethical and professional

punishment Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon an individual or group, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a deterrent to a particular action or beh ...

s when there is evidence of ethical violations. The penalties, as provided by law, may consist of confidential warnings, private

censure A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. In parliamentary procedure, it is a debatable main motion that could be adopted by a majority vote. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a sp ...

, public censure, suspension of professional practice for 30 days, and forfeiture of professional practice. The decisions of regional councils can be

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

ed to the Federal Council. The Federal Council of Medicine is governed by an elected executive board and a council. It has dozens of technical committees in charge of studying and issuing recommendations and decrees related to the practice of medicine.

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conselho Federal De Medicina Medical and health organisations based in Brazil Professional titles and certifications