Can’t blame hospital for doctor’s negligence,rules HC

Quashing criminal proceedings against the city’s reputed Indraprastha Apollo Hospital,Justice Dhingra noted in his order: “The offence of medical criminal negligence cannot be fastened on the company since the company can neither treat nor operate a patient of its own. It is the doctor working in the hospital,who treats and performs operations. It is the doctor,who examines the patients,and prescribes medicines. If there is a deliberate or negligent act of the doctor working in the hospital,it is the liability of the doctor and not of the hospitals for criminal negligence.”

The order was passed on a petition filed by Indraprastha Medical Corporation Ltd challenging a Metropolitan Magistrate’s order for registration of FIR against it for alleged medical negligence resulting in the death of a patient in 2007.