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.