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Overview:
Medicine is a noble profession and practitioner must bring to his task a reasonable
degree of skill and knowledge and must exercise reasonable degree of care. Neither
the very highest nor a very low degree of care and competence, judged in the light
of the particular circumstances of each case, is that the law requires.
But where a doctor acts carelessly or knowingly and in a manner which is not expected
of a medical practitioner, then in such a case an
action of sorts would be maintainable
i.e. for negligence. As a matter of fact, illiteracy and poverty amongst the masses
leads to victimization of patients by the medical practitioners. The man in the
street is ignorant about the medicines and he is given substitute and date expired
medicines. In certain cases, the sensitive organs of the patients are removed with
out knowledge of the patient and sold in the market at exorbitant rates. If this is detected by the patient, the doctor taking liberty of his poverty settles the
matter by offering him petty amounts as compensation Where a patient wants to take
a second opinion. The second Doctor may expose the wrong diagnosis of the earlier
practitioner.
Redressal System :
In Medical Negligence When a consumer has any complaint / grievance against
a Doctor/ Hospital (either Government or Private Hospital) or Nursing Home, for
redressal - He should first take a second opinion from a doctor having expertise
in the same field.
- If the opinion indicates a case of negligence, he should send his complaint to
the Medical Superintendent (M.S) of the concerned Hospital with copy to Chief Medical
Officer (CMO) of his area.
- If there is no reply or he is not satisfied with the reply of the concerned official
then he should send his complaint to the State Medical Council of his area. (Fee
Free)
- If he is not satisfied with reply of SMC then he can send his complaint to the
Medical Council of India. MCI will charge Rs. 500/ – as processing fee.
- If there is criminal type complaint than effected consumer can file complaint
with the local Police Station. However, the expert opinion will be required to register
any police complaint.
- He can file a case with the Consumer Forum, Civil Court and Criminal Court for
seeking damages arising out of wrong treatment or removal of sensitive body parts
during operation. |