Breather for doctors

Justice Markandey Katju in his recent judgment has neatly enunciated the principles of medical negligence after comprehensively surveying various decisions on the subject. Justice Katju bemoans that today the medical profession has to an extent become commercialised and there are many doctors who depart from their Hippocratic oath. However, he rightly points out that the entire medical fraternity cannot be branded as lacking in integrity or competence “because of some bad apples.” The judgment reaffirms the legal position that a medical practitioner must exercise a reasonable degree of care, neither the very highest nor a very low degree of care. A medical practitioner is not liable for negligence “simply because of an error of judgment in choosing one reasonable course of treatment in preference to another. He would be liable only where his conduct fell below that of the standards of a reasonably competent practitioner in his field. Sometimes despite their best efforts the treatment of a doctor fails, sometimes despite the best effort of a surgeon, the patient dies. That does not mean that the doctor or the surgeon is guilty of medical negligence, unless there is some strong evidence to establish negligence.” It should be remembered that a reasonable person is not an error free person.

Like all professionals, doctors too can make errors of judgment but as Justice Katju points out, “if they are punished for this no doctor can practice his vocation with equanimity. Indiscriminate proceedings and decisions against doctors are counterproductive and serve society no good. They inhibit the free exercise of judgment by a professional in a particular situation.” The judgment concludes with the assurance that doctors and nursing homes/hospitals “need not be unduly worried about the performance of their functions. The law is a watchdog, and not a bloodhound, and as long as doctors do their duty with reasonable care they will not be held liable even if their treatment was unsuccessful.”

... contd.