Nikhil Kumar & Harshit Grover, Department of Law, Chanderprabhu Jain College of Higher Studies and School of Law, GGSIPU
ABSTRACT
Public awareness of medical negligence in India is growing and it has become one of the serious issues. Generally medical negligence means carelessness by a person belonging to the medical staff. Medical negligence is also termed as medical malpractice that is an improper, unskilled, improper or negligent treatment of the patients by their physician, dentist, nurse or other health care professionals. Hospitals managements are increasingly facing complaints regarding the facilities, standards of professional competence, and the appropriateness of their therapeutic and diagnostic methods. After the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 has come into force some patients have filed legal cases against doctors, and have established that the doctors were negligent in their medical service, and have claimed and received compensation. As a result, a number of legal decisions have been made on what constitutes negligence and what is required to prove it.
The present paper aims to analyze the concept of negligence in the medical profession in the light of interpretation of the law by well-established cases and principles laid down by various courts and councils of India and around the globe.
Keywords: Negligence, Medical Negligence, Civil Liability, Torts, Damage, Carelessness, Compensation.
