Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal Issues:Triage in medical care & emergency treatment - Can a doctor ignore a routine appointment if a serious patient arrives?

The term ‘triage’ is a French word used in military medical services, which refers to the process of sorting injured/sick patient on the basis of urgency/priority of treatment. Triage in trauma care/emergency department is a very quick/necessary decision to first evacuate those with best chance of survival and to leave for later evacuation those who had little or no chance of survival. The doctors’ right to decide the issue of priority of attending the patients has been upheld by the Consumer Disputes Redressal Agencies (CDRAs).

The right of medical doctor is an important aspect of medical practice as often the patient’s perception of emergency differs from that of Doctors. In BS Hegde v Dr Sudhanshu Bhattacharya, the National Commission held that a doctor has the absolute right to decide which patient he would examine first and even out of turn depending on the condition of the patient. There is nothing improper or unreasonable if the doctor gives precedence to patients with active/acute cardiac problem/other medical/surgical condition where urgent medical attention of doctor is called for in preference to the routine consultation. In addition, it cannot be held that the patients must be examined at the appointed time irrespective of the time he may have to spend in examining the previous patients. (George, James E, Law and emergency care, The CV Mosby Co, St.Louise,1980 pp 66–67)