Medical Negligence

I was devastated on reading news in today’s newspaper about the negligence and careless attitude of the doctors towards their patients. The first incident reported really touched my nerves, wherein a depressed person killed his nine year old daughter and then committed suicide. The reason of his depression was the untimely death of his wife due to the negligence of a doctor.

The second news was about the doctor’s and other staff’s unprofessional and unethical behavior while performing surgery. The contents of the news are reproduced below.

Tragic end for a loving family Dwaipayan Ghosh TNN 

New Delhi: A 42-year-old man allegedly committed suicide after poisoning his nine-year-old daughter at his home at Malkaganj in north Delhi on Sunday afternoon. Praveen Kumar was depressed since the death of his wife, Puja, last October owing to a botched abortion. He had filed a case of medical negligence but it drained his finances even while expected results were not forthcoming. Praveen’s body was found in a wedding suit and tie, hands grasping a photograph of Puja. The body of his daughter, Khushi, was found beside it. The couple had a love marriage in 2002.

‘Anxious’, ‘bored’ docs using mobiles during surgery: NGO

90% Nurses Admit To Taking Calls During Ops, Claims Study

Sumitra Deb Roy TNN 

Mumbai: While there’s a heavy fine for talking on a cell phone while driving, surprisingly no rules exist to discourage its use by doctors and nurses inside operation theatres, where fiddling with the phone while performing a complex surgery could have disastrous consequences for patients.

Worryingly, a study by a Delhi-based NGO has found most nurses, technicians and even doctors routinely use their phones, at times even during surgery.

An overwhelming 90% nurses and 50% technicians interviewed admitted to answering calls during surgery. While almost all doctors refused to answer calls during a procedure, about 10% admitted to checking text messages. Ten per cent of operation theatre technicians admitted to even tweeting or checking tweets during a surgery. 

    

Responsible Authorities

It is the duty of the Government and the Government bodies constituted for the purpose to ensure that the doctors under the government employment perform their duties in a proper manner and stay away from malpractices.

All the doctors practicing in India get their practicing licence from the Medical council of India (MCI). If a doctor is negligent or involves in any other misconduct, action shall be taken against him by the MCI and the appropriate government. The MCI can suspend or revoke the licence of the doctor depending upon the gravity of the situation. However, an allegation of negligence or misconduct has to be proved before an action can be taken against a doctor. In most of the cases it is not possible for a common man to understand the true nature of the misconduct involved; what to say about proving misconduct.

Options available against negligence or misconduct

Government Hospitals- Government Hospitals are deemed to provide services free of cost and thus an action cannot be taken against the doctor or hospital in the Consumer Forums. If anything wrong is done by a doctor, complaint can be made against him to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) or the District Magistrate (DM) of the concerned district.

Private Hospitals/Clinics- In the case of private medical treatment a patient or his family members pay for the services rendered by the hospital/clinic and thus they can approach the consumer forums in case they have any grievance against the hospital. The consumer forum will pass the appropriate order (discussed in previous post). If grievance is against a particular doctor engaged in private hospital, it is wise to make doctor as well as the hospital the parties in the complaint.

In addition, aggrieved person may complain to the MCI using the prescribed format (Form MCI-02) and on payment of prescribed fee (Rs 200) along with an affidavit. Form MCI-02 can be easily found using google and downloaded or printed.

Further, If the misconduct of the doctor amounts to an criminal offence such as cheating or fraud then criminal action can also be taken against him/her. If police refuses to register the case, because owner of hospitals are usually influential persons, a complaint can be filed before the court. In such a case, all the documents must be kept safe to be produced before the court as evidence.

Consumer Rights In India

‘‘Only when you respect your rights, others will’’

‘Customer is the King’ is the belief of the businesses prior to the time of sale. This contention generally loses its ground once a customer pays for the goods or services as the case may be.

What I had observed in my professional and personal life (may be I am wrong) that majority of aggrieved consumers do not take recourse to the courts for enforcement of their rights and satisfies themselves by cursing the seller. However, this attitude towards their rights is changing at a fast pace which is a positive sign.

Those who choose not to approach a consumer forum have their own reasons. The most important reasons can be classified as:

1)    Lack of knowledge about their rights or the redressal mechanism;

2)    Lack of trust in the redressal mechanism;

3)    Lack of time and/or other resources.

This Article is primarily meant for consumers who do not approach the forum due to the lack of knowledge about their rights or the redressal mechanism. The purpose of this Article is to create awareness amongst the consumers and equip them with the knowledge of procedural aspects.

Who is a Consumer?

Consumer means a person who buys the goods for consideration i.e. pays the price of the goods. The user of the purchased goods such as family members and friends are also covered.

Similar is the case with services, for example, if the parents pay for the medical treatment of their child, then parents as well as child will be considered as a consumer.

Who is not a Consumer?

Person buying the goods or hiring the services to be used for commercial purposes are not covered and thus cannot claim relief under the Consumer Protection Act. However, courts have given a liberal interpretation to the term ‘Consumer’ so as to include persons who buy the goods or hire the services to be used for the purpose of self-employment.

Illustration- A transport company buys a car to be used for the purpose of carrying passengers will not be considered a consumer.

A person buys a car and uses it himself for carrying passengers to earn his livelihood will be considered as a consumer.

 

Grounds for Approaching Consumer Forum

1.  Defect in goods bought;
2. Deficiency in services hired;
3.  Overcharging of Price;
4.  Unfair Trade Practice or Restrictive Trade Practice
5. Offering hazardous goods or service

When and where to file a complaint?

A complaint before a consumer forum can be filed within a period of two years from the date on which the cause of action has arisen.

There is a three tier system of forums in the case of consumer courts viz. at district level, at State Level and at National level. A complaint has to be filed depending on the amount of claim including compensation or damages, if any. This is called pecuniary jurisdiction. The power of various consumer forums is mentioned below:

1. District Forum – Upto Rs 20 Lakh
2. State Commission – Exceeding Rs 20 Lakh upto Rs 1 Crore
3. National Commission – Exceeding Rs 1 Crore

What remedies can a Consumer forum provide?

If the allegation is/are proved by the consumer, the respective Forum/Commission shall issue an order to the opposite party directing him to do anyone or more of the following:

1)    To remove the defect from the goods in question.

2)    To replace the goods with new goods of similar description which shall be free from any defect;

3)    To return to the complainant the price, or, as the case may be, the charges paid by the complainant;

4)    To pay compensation to the consumer;

5)    To discontinue the unfair trade practice or the restrictive trade practice or not to repeat it;

6)    Not to offer the hazardous goods for sale;

7)    To stop manufacture of hazardous goods and offering hazardous services;

8)    To issue corrective advertisement to neutralize the effect of misleading advertisement at the cost of the opposite party responsible for issuing such misleading advertisement.

9)    To provide for adequate costs to parties.

Hope this information is useful to you. For any advice on matters relating to Consumer Rights, you can e-mail or call at the details given below:

E-mail ID- luckgurpreet@gmail.com

Mobile- 9999823664