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.
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