Violence Against Doctors: A PANDEMIC

 “To err is human” but doctors are divine.

Such is the harsh myth, we reside in, placing unparalleled and delusionary faith in doctors, only to hold them by the neck for any failures in saving lives. 

“No doctor can assure life to his patient but can only attempt to treat his patient to the best of his ability,” remarked the division bench of the Honorable Apex Court of India in Bombay Hospital & Medical Research Centre v Asha Jaiswal & Ors, LL 2021 SC 694 decided on 30th November 2021, affording some protection to innocent medical professionals from frivolous lawsuits. 

Survey conducted by Indian Medical Association suggests that a disturbing figure of about 80% of doctors in India are stressed in their profession, while 75% of doctors have dealt with some form of violence during their practice. 

Even the US Department of Justice reveals that Medical Profession constitutes around 10% of all workplace violence. It would be a myth to suggest that it is an Indian phenomenon, rather violence on doctors is a raging pandemic, upsettingly without a vaccination yet. 

The bench comprising of Hon’ble Justice Hemant Gupta and Hon’ble Justice V Ramasubramanian stated that blame cannot be attached to a Doctor just because a patient has not survived as “even the doctors with the best of their abilities cannot prevent the inevitable.” 

The Apex Court observed that the standard of care expected to be provided by a doctor to a patient is “reasonable care” and as clarified in the landmark judgment of Jacob Mathew v State of Punjab and Anr., {(2005) 6 SCC 1}, a simple lack of care, an error of judgment or an accident, is not a proof of negligence on the part of a medical professional.

‘Medical Negligence’ is not a blanket cover for frivolous lawsuits, rather the Hon’ble Apex Court in Arun Kumar Manglik v Chirayu Health and Medicare Pvt Ltd and Anr., {(2019) 7 SCC 401} had observed that “The threshold to prove unreasonableness is set with due regard to the risks associated with medical treatment and the conditions under which medical professionals’ function,”

The combined effect of these precedents is that the death of the patient or failure of surgery or the patient’s unfavorable response to the treatment cannot constitute a prima facie proof of negligence on part of the doctors. The duty of medical professionals is to provide reasonable care as acceptable to the medical profession of that day. 

The Courts in India have thus time and again shielded medical professionals who go to war at the forefront of life and death decisions, yet our Legislature has failed to accord them deserved protection and our society the deserved dignity. 

The article has been contributed by Mr Sudhir Mishra, Founder & Managing Partner, and Ms Mimansi Sethi, Associate, Trust Legal.