Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal Issues:What is contributory medical Negligence?

The pregnant woman delivered a child with spina bifida however she failed to regularly attend the advised dates for antenatal ultrasounds that would have identified this problem. The patient was found to be 100% at fault."

• In a medical malpractice/maloccurence case, medical negligence is the foremost ingredient to establish the liability of damage and dereliction in provided medical care. However, it is important to establish the difference between malpractice and contributory negligence when determining liability.
• Contributory negligence means the patient/legal heirs/parties are partially to blame for the maloccurrence or medical untoward incident. For e.g., a patient is admitted to the emergency room for treatment and they fail to inform the doctor about a pre–existing condition e.g. any allergy to a drug. The patient is guilty of contributing to the negative outcome/damage of the treatment.
• If the victim is found to be even one percent at fault, they will be unable to recover compensation for their injuries. However, comparative negligence is used to determine degree of liability of the doctor/medical care provider.
• Contributory negligence will determine who will receive compensation for their losses and how much they may be entitled to receive in compensation for their injuries. Pure comparative negligence means that in case of an aggrieved patient, damages will be calculated and then reduced to reflect his or her contribution to the injury.

In India, the doctors take the defense against malpractice cases when determining how the parties involved are responsible. In US, 4 categories apply in compensation cases in many of its states: Pure Comparative Negligence/Pure Contributory Negligence/ Modified Comparative Negligence—50% Bar Rule and Modified Comparative Negligence—51% Bar Rule. Twenty–one states that recognize the 51% Bar rule which means that the party who is less than 51% liable can seek compensation; only 11 US states use the 50% Bar rule, which means that if the damaged party is less than 50% responsible, they can collect damages.

Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal Isues:What is contributory medical negligence?

The pregnant woman delivered a child with spina bifida; however, she failed to attend at the regularly advised dates for antenatal ultrasounds that would have identified this problem. The patient was found to be 100% at fault."

• In a medical malpractice/maloccurrence case, medical negligence is the foremost ingredient to establish the liability of damage and dereliction in provided medical care. However, it is important to establish the difference between malpractice and contributory negligence when determining liability.
• Contributory negligence means the patient/legal heirs/parties are partially to blame for the maloccurrence or medical untoward incident. For e.g., a patient is admitted to the emergency room for treatment and they fail to inform the doctor about a pre–existing condition e.g. any allergy to a drug. The patient is guilty of contributing to the negative outcome/damage of the treatment.
• If the victim is found to be even one percent at fault, they will be unable to recover compensation for their injuries. However, comparative negligence is used to determine degree of liability of the doctor/medical care provider.
• Contributory negligence will determine who will receive compensation for their losses and how much they may be entitled to receive in compensation for their injuries. Pure comparative negligence means that in case of an aggrieved patient, damages will be calculated and then reduced to reflect his or her contribution to the injury.

In India, the doctors take the defense against malpractice cases when determining how the parties involved are responsible. In US, 4 categories applied in compensation cases in many of its states: Pure Comparative Negligence/Pure Contributory Negligence/Modified Comparative Negligence—50% Bar Rule and Modified Comparative Negligence—51% Bar Rule. Twenty–one states that recognize the 51% bar rule which means that the party who is less than 51% liable can seek compensation; only 11 US states use the 50% bar rule, which means that if the damaged party is less than 50% responsible, they can collect damages.

Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal Issues:What is contributory medical Negligence?

The pregnant woman delivered a child with spina bifida however she failed to regularly attend the advised dates for antenatal ultrasounds that would have identified this problem. The patient was found to be 100% at fault."

• In a medical malpractice/maloccurence case, medical negligence is the foremost ingredient to establish the liability of damage and dereliction in provided medical care. However, it is important to establish the difference between malpractice and contributory negligence when determining liability.
• Contributory negligence means the patient/legal heirs/parties are partially to blame for the maloccurrence or medical untoward incident. For e.g., a patient is admitted to the emergency room for treatment and they fail to inform the doctor about a pre–existing condition e.g. any allergy to a drug. The patient is guilty of contributing to the negative outcome/damage of the treatment.
• If the victim is found to be even one percent at fault, they will be unable to recover compensation for their injuries. However, comparative negligence is used to determine degree of liability of the doctor/medical care provider.
• Contributory negligence will determine who will receive compensation for their losses and how much they may be entitled to receive in compensation for their injuries. Pure comparative negligence means that in case of an aggrieved patient, damages will be calculated and then reduced to reflect his or her contribution to the injury.

In India, the doctors take the defense against malpractice cases when determining how the parties involved are responsible. In US, 4 categories apply in compensation cases in many of its states: Pure Comparative Negligence/Pure Contributory Negligence/ Modified Comparative Negligence—50% Bar Rule and Modified Comparative Negligence—51% Bar Rule. Twenty–one states that recognize the 51% Bar rule which means that the party who is less than 51% liable can seek compensation; only 11 US states use the 50% Bar rule, which means that if the damaged party is less than 50% responsible, they can collect damages.

Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal Issues:Contributory medical Negligence

A pregnant woman delivered a child with spina bifida however she failed to attend regularly advised dates for antenatal ultrasounds that would have identified this problem. The patient was found to be 100% at fault. • In a medical malpractice case, medical negligence is the foremost ingredient to establish the liability of damage and dereliction in provided medical care. However, it is important to establish the difference between malpractice and contributory negligence when determining liability • Contributory negligence means the patient/legal heirs/parties are partially to blame for the maloccurrence or medical untoward incident. For e.g., a patient is admitted to the emergency room for treatment and they fail to inform the doctor about a pre–existing condition e.g. any allergy to a drug. The patient is guilty of contributing to the negative outcome/damage of the treatment • If the victim is found to be even one percent at fault, he/she will be unable to recover compensation for their injuries. However, comparative negligence is used to determine degree of liability of the doctor/medical care provider • Contributory negligence will determine who will receive compensation for their losses and how much they may be entitled to receive in compensation for their injuries. Pure comparative negligence means that in case of an aggrieved patient, damages will be calculated and then reduced to reflect his or her contribution to the injury. In India, the doctors take the defense against malpractice cases when determining how the parties involved are responsible. In US, 4 categories applied in compensation cases in many of its states: Pure Comparative Negligence/Pure Contributory Negligence/Modified Comparative Negligence—50% Bar Rule and Modified Comparative Negligence—51% Bar Rule. Twenty–one states that recognize the 51% bar rule which means that the party who is less than 51% liable can seek compensation; only 11 US states use the 50% bar rule, which means that if the damaged party is less than 50% responsible, they can collect damages.

Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal issues:Medical Negligence

Government of India / Medical Council of India should give Statutory Rules or Executive Instructions on medical negligence - Supreme Court of India

• The Honorable Apex Court said that so long as it is not done we propose to lay down certain guidelines for the future which should govern the prosecution of doctors for offences of which criminal rashness or criminal negligence is an ingredient.
• A private complaint may not be entertained unless the complainant has produced prima facie evidence before the Court in the form of a credible opinion given by another competent doctor to support the charge of rashness or negligence on the part of the accused doctor.
• The investigating officer should, before proceeding against the doctor accused of rash or negligent act or omission, obtain an independent and competent medical opinion preferably from a doctor in government service qualified in that branch of medical practice That doctor can normally be expected to give an impartial and unbiased opinion applying Bolam’s test to the facts collected in the investigation.
• A doctor accused of rashness or negligence, may not be arrested in a routine manner simply because a charge has been leveled against him
• The doctor should never be arrested in case of medical negligence since the basic rule of mens rea means any criminality to harm the patient always remain absent
• The exceptional ground and necessity of arrest of doctor is required to be deliberated must be transparent/well justified before the police if unavoidable for furthering the investigation or for collecting the evidence or unless the investigation officer feels satisfied that the doctor proceeded against would not make him available to face the prosecution unless arrested, the arrest may be withheld.

Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal issues:Contributory medical Negligence

A pregnant woman delivered a child with spina bifida however she failed to attend regularly advised dates for antenatal ultrasounds that would have identified this problem. The patient was found to be 100% at fault.
• In a medical malpractice case, medical negligence is the foremost ingredient to establish the liability of damage and dereliction in provided medical care. However, it is important to establish the difference between malpractice and contributory negligence when determining liability
• Contributory negligence means the patient/legal heirs/parties are partially to blame for the maloccurrence or medical untoward incident. For e.g., a patient is admitted to the emergency room for treatment and they fail to inform the doctor about a pre–existing condition e.g. any allergy to a drug. The patient is guilty of contributing to the negative outcome/damage of the treatment
• If the victim is found to be even one percent at fault, he/she will be unable to recover compensation for their injuries. However, comparative negligence is used to determine degree of liability of the doctor/medical care provider
• Contributory negligence will determine who will receive compensation for their losses and how much they may be entitled to receive in compensation for their injuries. Pure comparative negligence means that in case of an aggrieved patient, damages will be calculated and then reduced to reflect his or her contribution to the injury.
In India, the doctors take the defense against malpractice cases when determining how the parties involved are responsible. In US, 4 categories applied in compensation cases in many of its states: Pure Comparative Negligence/Pure Contributory Negligence/Modified Comparative Negligence—50% Bar Rule and Modified Comparative Negligence—51% Bar Rule. Twenty–one states that recognize the 51% bar rule which means that the party who is less than 51% liable can seek compensation; only 11 US states use the 50% bar rule, which means that if the damaged party is less than 50% responsible, they can collect damages.