Aadesh Ramadorai
When the International catastrophe, COVID – 19 is no more, our civilization will be alleviated from all the fear and worry attributed to this contagion. Unfortunately, the Saviors of the Society, the health care professionals will have new reasons to worry about, i.e. the risk of encountering several lawsuits from hostile families. Such proceedings may come up even after several months or years after the supposed negligence.
The ingredients of medical negligence are, the existence of a duty of care, breach of this duty and the consequent damage arising out of that breach. After coining the importance of the above requisites which constitute medical negligence, the Supreme Court had clarified that such cases must be restricted to civil liabilities and that criminal liabilities may arise only in severe cases of gross negligence. Even though the reason for several deaths are inadequacy of equipment and a low doctor to patient ratio, aggrieved families will undoubtedly unleash their anger through lawsuits targeting doctors.
Delving into the first ingredient, several factors need to be considered. Firstly, one must understand that, the medical professionals have to deal with a lot of stress and physical discomfort while treating several patients on a daily basis. It is not pragmatic to expect an optimum standard of care from doctors, who are forced to compromise on treatment efficiency due to the unavailability of resources. Looking into the present scenario of medical treatment given during the Covid era, our doctors are doing their best and maximum to save the patients by providing a comfortable environment and delaying the deaths of some patients, as that is what they can do, owing to the fact that there is still no cure for the deadly virus. Hence, the doctors cannot be held culpable for the demise of their patients and it is crucial to consider the circumstances of a patient’s death, which are beyond anyone’s control. Therefore, doctors should be rewarded for the lives they save instead of being blamed for the lives that were lost.
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