Dr. Vikram .R. Lotwala

A recent judgement from Supreme court if India has given an opportunity to Doctors who want to help the Injured but are scared about the medico-legal implication and the legal hassles associted with such cases. The persistent fear among the medical community is that any minor lapses in noting the details of the patient and the relatives creates a big police trouble. The judgement says that the treating doctor should provide medical attention to the patient and need not worry about the other details of the patient. “It is not the requirement of law that doctors, even before admitting the injured or during their treatment, must note down every bit of details of the incident or names of the witnesses in the registers maintained by them,” said Justice Sinha, writing the judgment.

The Times of India, Mumbai reports in 18 Feb 2009 edition that- In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court on Tuesday stepped in to check the harassment of doctors in medical negligence cases. A division bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice G S Singhvi held that consumer and criminal courts would have to seek the opinion of a doctor or a panel of doctors before issuing a notice to a medical practioner or hospital in a case alleging negligence. The fresh guidelines set by the apex court stipulate that whenever a consumer forum or criminal court receives a complaint against a doctor, it should refer the matter to a panel of experts in the field. Only after the committee reports that there is a prima facie case of medical negligence should a notice be issued to the concerned doctor or hospital. “This is necessary to avoid harassment to doctors who may not be ultimately found to be negligent,’’ the bench observed. It added, “The courts and consumer fora are not experts in medical sc...