"MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE" CASES IN CIVIL,CRIMINAL OR CONSUMER COURT FRIGHTEN DOCTORS NOW A DAYS MOSTLY ,READ,RELAX  & AVOID BY PRECAUTIONS IN TREATMENT

Prof.Dr.Dram,profdrram@gmail.com,Gastro Intestinal,Liver Hiv,Hepatitis and sex diseases expert 7838059592,9434143550

Charging or insulting or beating a Doctor or ransack and vandalism in Hospital premises is very much common now a days through out India.Most of the time it is committed by few peoples who may accompany  patients but not directly related,some time  some grieved attendant for some unavailability of Doctor,services or investigations or medicines start shouting and gather so many people to creat chaos.In these cases, mostly doctors attending in emergency or opd or ipd  care are not directly responsible both in Government and private sector.Blaming Doctors or Death is very much common .Resentment as highly charged so for  reducing Bill or getting discharged with  less or no payment even if patient improves, spark vandalism and hoolganism in Private Hospitals mostly.Even Hospital and Doctors accept such thing in case of death of patient or if patient condition worsens and man reduce bill or charge nothing even after service but still Doctors are beaten.

                 Beside this direct conflict,it is now a common trend to suit Doctors and Hospitals in civil,criminal and consumer court on ground of "Medical Negligence".First they file FIR and press local police or authority to arrest Doctor or close Hospital involving local NGOs and writes to CMO or MCI to debar Doctor from practice but in last through their lawyers  file suits of Negligence in treatment in different courts,sometime in all to extract hugh compensation from Doctors or Hospitals.Whether they win or loose doesnot matter but Doctors and Hospitals are too much insulted by local print and electronic media and now  Social Media.

      Doctors are tried and judged there for increasing circulation and TRP and most of Doctors donot take action against such illegal work as they fear Media or local NGOs But if Doctors keep their view and raise their voice for such kind of maligning along with their associations involving nearby good citizens mostly such negligence cases and demonstrations die itself there.So it is a teaching for practice now a days that one should never get afraid of such cases but should make good association of Doctors around practice area and get involved in many NGOs around practice area and reply or face them patiently.If cases filed against Media for disreputation  Media also becomes straightened. 

                  Inspite of so man cases of Medical Negligence, there are few convictions only. For criminal negligence, one has to prove either a wrong intent or knowledge on the part of the doctor that a particular action is likely to cause harm and was still done without consent. Informed consent in most cases is the bridge between a wrong act and an untoward event.Any adverse event or non-criminal medical negligence will attract compensation under the law of torts or the Consumer Protection Act. Today, compensation is awarded in upto 5-10 percent of consumer cases, which is a significant number but if fought correctly involving indemnity insurance by national insurance companies ,the load on Doctors and hospital becomes less and Doctors are less harassed too.To err is human and no treatment is risk-free.

Many lawyers practice openly against Doctors,they invite grieved persons to file cases against Doctors and hospitals in police or local court to frighten Doctors and their reputation in local media and then come with Doctors and Hospitals  on negotiating table out of the court earning hugh as compensation,Doctors should fight them in court avoiding an compensation as most such cases  are win by Doctors     

        However, criminal negligence is a different matter altogether. In 2005, the Supreme Court in the Jacob Mathew case said: “Negligence in the context of medical profession necessarily calls for a treatment with a difference.To infer rashness or negligence on the part of a professional, in particular a doctor, additional considerations apply. A case of occupational negligence is different from one of professional negligence. A simple lack of care, an error of judgment or an accident, is not proof of negligence on the part of a medical professional. So long as a doctor follows a practice acceptable to the medical profession of that day, he cannot be held liable for negligence merely because a better alternative course or method of treatment was also available or simply because a more skilled doctor would not have chosen to follow or resort to that practice or procedure which the accused followed.

        When it comes to the failure of taking precautions what has to be seen is whether those precautions were taken which the ordinary experience of men has found to be sufficient; a failure to use special or extraordinary precautions which might have prevented the particular happening cannot be the standard for judging the alleged negligence.

       So also, the standard of care, while assessing the practice as adopted, is judged in the light of knowledge available at the time of the incident, and not at the date of trial. Similarly, when the charge of negligence arises out of failure to use some particular equipment, the charge would fail if the equipment was not generally available at that particular time at which it is suggested it should have been used.

          “The jurisprudential concept of negligence differs in civil and criminal law. What may be negligence in civil law may not necessarily be negligence in criminal law. For negligence to amount to an offence, the element of mens rea must be shown to exist. For an act to amount to criminal negligence, the degree of negligence should be much higher i.e. gross or of a very high degree. Negligence which is neither gross nor of a higher degree may provide a ground for action in civil law but cannot form the basis for prosecution.”

           So now Doctors and hospitals should be more aware of such cases,all opd and IPD records with investigations,referrals and treatment must be preserved in record,Doctors should follow all standard protocols while giving treatment as far as possible,necessarily referrals ad investigations must be done to establish diagnosis  and starting treatment.Proper consent during admission or conducting investigation and operations must be taken by patient in own writing if possible in presence of patient's witnesses,all charges ad complications must be explained and even after operation or treatment daily progress reports must be signed by patient or relatives.

If disease takes long time to cure or if complication develops and if patient wants referral or second opinion then it must be obeyed after taking proper writing,increase in charges in private sector must be consented in writing.Even if patient cant pay more,local responsible authorities must be informed but treatment should not be stopped involving local authorities and relatives patient should be shifted to Government or higher centre .If patient expires dead bodies should not be held but should be offered informing local authorities if day to day payment after explainning all expenses incurred is adopted then such loss is avoidable ,unnecessarily stretching patient in Hospital without payment usually cause it but if a  proper referral involving local administration and relatives done then it is avoidable to some extent.