Professional incompetency to blame for rise in medical negligence, medical varsity VC says

Times of India: Chennai: Friday, 25 July 2014.

The unchecked rise in the incidents of medical negligence cases are the result of professional incompetency, said Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University vice-chancellor D Shantaram on Thursday.

Speaking to students of the Dr Ambedkar Law University during the inauguration of a two-day international seminar, titled "Ethico - Legal aspects in medical negligence - a human rights perspective," he said the quality of medical education had come down in recent days. The number of efficient and skilled doctors was dwindling, he added.

"Medical negligence cases surge due to the heavy disease burden which is placed on the shoulders of inadequate manpower in the healthcare sector," he said.

He pointed out that communication gap between doctors and the relatives of the patient was another main reason why medical negligence cases were taking an ugly turn.

"Doctors should keep the patient's relatives updated on his or her health status. When everyone is kept in the dark and suddenly the doctors announce that the patient is dead, it is difficult for the relatives to understand and they react adversely," he said.

Shantaram added that a lot of ethical issues could be avoided in medical practice if the doctors put patient's interest as priority above theirs. "The good thing is that courts have a more holistic approach when it comes to the medical profession, and this allows doctors to practice medicine without fear," he said.

Speakers at the seminar discussed various aspects of medical negligence and cases that made news. Though cases of medical negligence and ethical issues crop up every now and then in India, there is no centralized collection of data on such cases filed in the country or their outcome.

According to People for Better Treatment, an RTI enquiry filed by the association found that just 515 cases were filed against doctors for either medical negligence or ethical violation in one decade (2001-10), barely four cases a month. And action was taken in just 9% of cases 15 doctors were removed from the council's list of registered practitioners and 30 let off with a warning. In 91% of cases, either the case was closed or the accused let off.

People for Better Treatment was started by Dr Kunal Saha, who recently won the record settlement of over Rs 6 crore by the Supreme Court for the death of his wife due to medical negligence.