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Journalism of Courage
You don8217;t have to wait for a pair of scissors to be left in your abdomen to begin learning about your rights as a patient. Since a few years this honourable service has come under the purview of the Consumer Protection Act and since then doctors have become mere providers of a service that patients pay for.
The Supreme Court ruled that the service rendered to a patient by a medical practitionerexcept where the doctor renders service free of charge to every patient or under a contract of personal service, by way of consultation, diagnosis and treatment, both medicinal and surgical, would fall within the ambit of service8217; Free service does not include government hospitals where some patients pay for treatment and those who cannot afford it do not pay. At a government hospital free service would also be considered service and the recipient, a consumer under the act.
Medical negligence arises when a doctor professes to possess skill or expertise that he does not have, for instance when a surgeon undertakes to anaesthetise the patient. Negligence also includes reckless undertaking or conduct of treatment or indifference in handling of cases or failure to act diligently or alertly at the appropriate time. It also includes cases like amputating the wrong limb, administering a prohibitive or counter productive medicine or treatment under which no norms of general or approved practice can be justified.
There are however several grey areas. For example, if you were to go to a doctor with symptoms that could be indicative of an ambiguous illness. In such cases the doctor after conducting appropriate tests, starts treatment. In such cases if the treatment is injurious, the doctor is not liable for it only because he exercised due care and this was an error of judgment and not willful negligence.
How does one define a reasonable degree of care in cases that occur in one out of 10,000 persons? In one case a patient being treated for the removal of a cyst on his forehead to be done under local anaesthesia died as a result of the drug reaction. While it is true that the doctor did not take undue risk given such a singular case, for people with drug reaction the risk is a hundred percent.
How do I know if I am one of those who belong to that extremely rare category? When we talk about human life, do we go by numbers alone? Says an anaesthetist who wishes to remain anonymous, 8220;We have to fist check if the patient has a history of reactions or allergies to such drugs like penicillin, sulphur and so on. Anaesthesia requires a doctor to have life- support systems at hand. Our textbooks at least state this.8221;
But do dentists and general practitioners conducting minor surgeries need to have life-saving equipment like oxygen, resuscitation and other drugs at hand? Does not having it constitute negligence? Mrs. Manjusha Kulkarni, legal advisor, Ruby Hall Clinic says 8220;While according to the book this would be negligence,it would not be practical. Dentists would contend that they are only qualified to handle teeth not anesthetise. But the services of a specialist in the field would result in treatment too expensive and impractical.8221;
While these issues have to be sorted out, it is a good idea to keep the law in mind while undertaking medical treatment.
