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Doctors cannot be said to be Negligent merely because Patient could not be saved

Citation : Dr. (Mrs.) Chanda Rani Akhouri & Ors. Vs Dr. M.a. Methusethupathi & Ors., Civil Appeal No(S).6507 Of 2009

Date of Judgment/Order : April 20, 2022

Court/Tribunal : The Supreme Court Of India

Corum : Ajay Rastogi & Abhay S. Oka, J.

Background

Was filed against the order of the NCDRC, dismissing the allegation of the appellants that the death of her husband was due to post operative medical negligence and follow-up care.

Judgment

Dismissing the appeal the Supreme Court observed that in a recent judgment in Dr. Harish Kumar Khurana v. Joginder Singh and Others , this Court held that the hospital and doctors are required to exercise sufficient care in treating the patients in all circumstances. However, in an unfortunate case death may occur. It will be necessary that sufficient material on medical evidence should be available before the adjudicating authority to arrive at a conclusion that the death is due to medical negligence. Even death of a patient cannot, on the face of it, be considered to be medical negligence. The doctors are expected to take reasonable care, but no professional can assure that the patient will come back home after overcoming the crisis.

It clearly emerges from the exposition of law that a medical practitioner is not to be held liable simply because things went wrong from mischance or misadventure or through an error of judgment in choosing one reasonable course of treatment in preference to another. In the practice of medicine, there could be varying approaches of treatment. There could be a genuine difference of opinion. However, while adopting a course of treatment, the duty cast upon the medical practitioner is that he must ensure that the medical protocol being followed by him is to the best of his skill and with competence at his command. At the given time, medical practitioner would be liable only where his conduct fell below that of the standards of a reasonably competent practitioner in his field.

The term “negligence” has no defined boundaries and if any medical negligence is there, whether it is pre or post-operative medical care or in the follow-up care, at any point of time by the treating doctors or anyone else, it is always open to be considered by the Courts/Commission taking note of the exposition of law laid down by this Court of which a detailed reference has been made and each case has to be examined on its own merits in accordance with law.

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