Please donot prescribe  medicine to a patient over phone or mobile without examining a patient without diagnosis or any alteration in medicine in examined and diagnosed patient too as it may be a gross negligence as of culpable homicide not amounting to murder to be booked under IPC 304 where life imprisonment and un bailable sentence may be imposed by a court. Observing that prescribing medicines to patients without diagnosis amounted to culpable negligence, the Bombay High Court has turned down the anticipatory bail pleas of a doctor couple booked for the death of a woman patient.Learned Justice Sadhana Jadhav made the observations on Wednesday while hearing anticipatory bail pleas filed by gynaecologists Dr.Deepa and Dr.Sanjeev Pawaskar.
                         They were booked by Ratnagiri police under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after their patient died this year. Cops said the woman was admitted to the accused couple’s hospital in Ratnagiri in February, where she underwent a Caesarean and gave birth to a baby. The court order said the woman and child were normal and discharged two days later.
                  However, the next day, the woman fell sick and her kin called up Dr.Deepa, who asked them to go to a medicine shop and let her speak with the chemist over the phone. The doctor told the chemist to give some medicines to the relatives. However, even after taking them, the woman did not feel better and was taken to the same hospital. Both Pawaskars were not present there at that time, but told the family that they should admit her and she would be discharged the next day, the order said. When her condition deteriorated the next day, doctors shifted her to another hospital, where she died, it said.

                  Both doctors pleaded that they should be booked under IPC 304 A where they should be considered under medical negligence where punishment is of 02 yrs of jail and bailable but not under 304 ,a culpable homicide not amounting to murder,where sentence is of life imprisonment and unbaiable  sothat bail can be granted to them but The learned court opined that it is a gross negligence.Usually Doctors are booked under this act only by a criminal court but here The learned court opined that Doctors in this case committed a gross negligence by doing an act with recklessness and indifference to its consequences.

     "An error in diagnosis could be negligence and covered under section 304 (A) of Indian Penal Code .But this is a case of prescription without diagnosis and therefore,Culpable Negligence.",Justice Jadhav said."When a Doctor fails in his duty,is it not tantamount to criminal negligence ? The court cannot ignore the ethical nature of  the Medical Law by liberally extending the legal protection to medical professionals..."the order said.

                Even Court rejected plea of both doctors to try their case in civil liability by ordering them to pay compensation to victims but The court opined that monetary  compensation cannot buy a child  her mother and a husband his wife.The cort added that Medical profession has been put on a pedestal and time has come to weed out negligent and careless persons in medical profession."segregation of reckless and negligent doctors in the profession will go a great way in restoring the honour and prestige of large number of doctors and hospitals who are devoted to their profession and scrupulously follow the ethics and principles of this noble profession ",the court said.

                     What as a doctor or as a hospital administrator feel about such order ? Do these two doctors commit an offence which put them in jail for a life? Can you suggest as legal expert how they should proceed now or another doctors to take precautions to avoid such punishment ?