Doctor’s Overseas Visit, No Free Op Theater, Not Medical Negligence: Sc

Doctor’s overseas visit, no free op theater, not medical negligence: SC

New Delhi, Nov 30, : , The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that medical negligence cannot be deemed medical negligence if an emergency theatre is not available or a doctor who is attending the patient is on a foreign visit.
V.

 Doctor’s Overseas Visit, No Free Op Theater, Not Medical Negligence: Sc-TeluguStop.com

Ramasubramanian and Justice Hemant Gupta ruled that there is no fault to be assigned to the hospital if any of the operating theatres were occupied at the time the patient was taken for surgery.

“Operation theatres are not always available.

It was held that the hospital could not be held negligent if it did not have an emergency theatre available during other patients’ surgeries.

The complainant claimed that after a procedure on April 23, 1998, there was delay in deciding to amputate the leg.This was due to re-exploration on March 24, 1998 and also due to the “undue international visit” of the doctor.

Justice Gupta, who wrote the judgment for the bench, stated that doctors often travel abroad and it is well-known that a doctor must keep up with the latest developments in his field.

He may need to attend conferences both inside and outside of India.

He stated that “the mere fact that the doctor went abroad cannot be used to infer medical negligence because the patient was admitted at a hospital with multi-faculties specialists”

The judge stated that even with all the treatment, if the patient does not survive, doctors cannot be held responsible as even the best doctors can’t prevent it.

The family of the deceased complained that because surgery was performed by a physician, he would be responsible for all aspects of the treatment given to him.The bench disagreed and stated that it was incorrect.

It stated that the case involved a patient who was in serious condition with impending gangrene.The patient was admitted to the hospital even before surgery and re-exploration.

If the patient dies, the doctors cannot be held responsible for medical negligence.

The bench stated that there is a tendency for patients to blame doctors when they die or suffer from some other mishap.

This is an “intolerant” behavior by the family members to refuse to accept the death.It noted that this pandemic has seen an increase in the number of medical professionals being mistreated, who work long hours without any comfort.

It ruled that it was unreasonable to expect a doctor to stay at the bedside of a patient during his stay in hospital, as was the expectation by the complainant.

The Bombay Hospital and Medical Research Centre and a doctor appealed against the order of the National Consumer Disputes Redress Commission (NCDRC), in a case where a patient died from a leg injury in 1998.

The complainant claimed that the hospital delayed the angiography procedure and that doctors were unable to amputate the legs because of impending gangrene.

The total cost of the treatment was Rs 4 Lakh.

The NCDRC had ordered Rs 14 Lakh to be paid by the hospital as well as the doctors who were charged with negligence.

However, the NCDRC order was rescinded by the top court.

ss/vd #Doctors #theater #medical #negligence #Delhi

Disclaimer : TeluguStop.com Editorial Team not involved in creation of this article & holds no responsibility for its content..This Article is Provided by IANS, Please contact IANS if any issues in Article .


Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on WhatsAppFollow Us on Twitter