Thousands of patients die due to medical negligence in hospitals across India, the number is steadily rising.Doctors, on the other hand, are ruing the fallen doctor-patient trust which they say is the lowest today.

The National Accreditation Board for Hospitals Report claims that 98,000 deaths from medical injuries occur in India every year. According to Manupatra, a legal research source, medico-legal cases in the Supreme Court have gone up by 400 percent in the last decade.

Recently Jharkhand State has found Medanta HospitalÂs negligence in kidney transplantation case. The allegation of negligence in the kidney transplantation of patient Rajesh Kumar Paswan in Medanta Hospital Ranchi has been found correct in the departmental investigation. While reviewing complaints in the weekly review programme of Jansamvad Kendra on 4th June 2019, Principal Secretary to CM Sunil Kumar Barnwal ordered action against hospital management and returning the entire amount taken for the treatment to the patient. 

The family members of Rajesh Kumar Paswan complained in the Jansamvad Kendra that a doctor of Medanta Hospital Ranchi who had transplanted the kidney of the patient was threatening to kill them and asking them to take the case back which was against them in the police station. Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Sunil Kumar Barnwal said that if the doctors are threatening, then they will have to face legal action against them. 

Other shocking revelations were made by Hanish Patel he said, Â His father Rasik Lal Patel who got brain stroke on 23rd March 2019 was brought to Medanta Hospital in Ranchi for treatment, he stated that the first aid given to him was not proper. No senior doctor was available at that time and no Neurosurgeon was called to attend the patient.Â

He said, ÂDoctor came to visit on 24th March afternoon to see the patient. The patient was attended by Neurosurgeon after 12 hours of admitting in the hospital.

On 24th March when I met another Doctor in the evening he stated that  We were giving instructions over ÂWhatsapp Group for the treatment of the patient.Â

He added that even in Bokaro when he took his father to Bokaro General Hospital no Neurosurgeon was available to attend the patient and they asked us to take the patient to Kolkata or Ranchi. 

Another case – Two infants, born on May 19, 2019, died at a government hospital in Giridih district early morning on Tuesday after being given an immunization vaccine, triggering violence by the family members who alleged medical negligence and roughed up doctors and some staff members at the hospital.

Bokaro Police on 24th February 2016 arrested a doctor J N Srivastava, owner of Rambha Orthopedic Hospital, after the death of a patient allegedly due to negligence in operating his broken hand. 

The family members of Sundarlal Burnwal (48) were agitated because the doctor removed the body from the operation theatre without informing them. The patient’s body was found in an abandoned corridor of Bokaro General Hospital, Bokaro.

Death of around 170 children, mostly infants, at JharkhandÂs prestigious MGM Medical College Hospital, Jamshedpur during the period of May – September 2017, points at a bigger health care crisis than the alleged medical negligence in the tragedy-struck hospital.

Hindustan Times investigation has revealed a miserable state of reproductive and child health program in the stateÂs East Singhbhum district largely contributed to the tragedy.

Majority of the ill-fated children were acutely malnourished and grossly underweight with their mothers condition being equally worse.

RELEVANT PROVISIONS FOR DOCTORS UNDER INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1860

According to the provisions of Indian Penal Code 1860 (IPC) any act of commission or omission is not a crime unless it is accompanied by a guilty mind (MENS REA).

The acts are not punishable only because it led to some mischievous results unless associated with intention or mental attitude of the person.

Most of the time’s doctors treatment is in good faith, with the consent of the patient and hence most of the provisions of IPC are not applicable to the doctors unless or until there is rashness or gross negligence.