A medical certificate is a document composed and signed by a physician, attesting a capacity or incapacity to work or have an physical activity, like sport for example. It can attest your good health (lack of known health trouble).

A valid certificat must contain the date of creation and applies to determined period of time. It can never be unlimited and can never exceed 1 month.

The physician who signs the certificat, engages his legal responsibility, attesting the truth about the facts mentioned in the document. He then must be able to have all the necessary informations, including having observed the elements, before filling a certificate..

The signing physician must be able to justify about the health state, having examined the patient, prove the lack of contraindication to the practice of a sport for exemple. Therefore he must know the patient and its medical record, as he must have seen the patient recently enough.

Without recent consultation or depending on the available means to justify the certificate, the physician may refuse to sign the certificate.

The signing physician must be able to justify the mean of the inability to work. Most of the time, the physician must have seen the patient in consultation for that cause of inability.

In the lack of consultation, meaning ability to prove the health problem, the physician can refuse to sign the certificate.

A certificate for the practice of driving a vehicule or a plane, diving, and a few other special practises are subject to specific rules. Expert physicians are needed to test the ability for theses practices.

About the driving ability (swiss driving license), the testing if restricted by law to be done by a medical expert, validated by the state. see Testing of the ability to drive a vehicle.