The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) has handed down a six-month suspension to former Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, temporarily barring her from practicing medicine.
The disciplinary action comes after the PRC Board of Medicine found her guilty of breaching the Revised Code of Ethics of the Medical Profession.
The ruling, which was finalized on May 8 and made public on Saturday, determined that the licensed physician engaged in unethical and unprofessional conduct.
The suspension stems from legal complaints filed by healthcare workers back in 2022. The groups took legal action after Badoy publicly red-tagged members of the Alliance of Health Workers and community doctor Ma. Natividad Castro, accusing them of being linked to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People’s Army (NPA), and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
The Board of Medicine emphasized that Badoy’s controversial public remarks fell short of the strict ethical benchmarks demanded of medical practitioners.
Under the PRC’s directive, Badoy is strictly barred from treating patients or engaging in any form of medical practice for the duration of the half-year penalty.
She will only be permitted to resume her medical career once the suspension period concludes and she satisfies all compliance conditions mandated by the regulatory body.
Before her stint at the PCO, Badoy gained prominence as the spokesperson for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte.