‘Doctor not liable if patient doesn’t respond to treatment’
15 April 2013 7:12 AM IST
A doctor cannot be held liable if the patient has not responded favourably to the treatment, a Delhi court said here on Sunday, discharging two doctors and three nurses of a city government hospital accused of negligently treating a man, who had died.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Kamini Lau said that if the doctors were found guilty in departmental inquiry of the matter, that does not make them liable for criminal negligence as the standard of both inquries are ‘totally different.’
‘A doctor is often called upon to adopt the procedure involving higher element of risk where he honestly believes that such risk would provide greater chances to a patient before them.
The family of the patient also gives consent to the doctor for such procedure which is acceptable to medical sciences. ‘Simply because the patient has not responded favourably to a treatment given, the doctor cannot be held liable per se...It should not be forgotten that error of judgment by a professional is not negligence per se,’ the court said. It further said that it is an obligation upon the court to ensure that doctors and medical practitioners are protected from ‘frivolous and unjust prosecution’.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Kamini Lau said that if the doctors were found guilty in departmental inquiry of the matter, that does not make them liable for criminal negligence as the standard of both inquries are ‘totally different.’
‘A doctor is often called upon to adopt the procedure involving higher element of risk where he honestly believes that such risk would provide greater chances to a patient before them.
The family of the patient also gives consent to the doctor for such procedure which is acceptable to medical sciences. ‘Simply because the patient has not responded favourably to a treatment given, the doctor cannot be held liable per se...It should not be forgotten that error of judgment by a professional is not negligence per se,’ the court said. It further said that it is an obligation upon the court to ensure that doctors and medical practitioners are protected from ‘frivolous and unjust prosecution’.
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