Death due to medical negligence

Every other day, one reads in the news papers about death caused due to medical negligence. What next? – Postmortem, findings such as evidence of some rashes on the skin, and finally “opinion reserved”! Anywhere in the world this can happen. Some of the reasons quoted for such deaths are: wrong diagnosis (equipment related or human error), wrong medicine, use of medicines after their expiry date, high dosage of medicine administered, drugs are spurious, allergy to the medicine not tested, improper hospital care, etc. Often it was observed that the doctor is a quack, not qualified to practice medicine or surgery.

Now let us see the consequences: If there is no political godfather to the doctor, he will be arrested and put behind the bars. Some political party workers will force their way inside the hospital or clinic and damage everything in sight. Doctors are not spared. Their faces are blackened. Political interference in such cases is very evident for cheap publicity. Nobody bothers to see the fate of the aggrieved family. Their loss is loss for ever.

On investigation, it is often observed that the culprit is the doctor. He might have carried out a procedure, which was not required in the first place, for making easy money through commission / cuts. Medical ethics is totally lacking. The doctor is not having adequate knowledge about the pros and cons of the procedures he is undertaking. His knowledge base is the medical representatives (and the colorful brochures), who promise all-found holidays abroad for the doctors for prescribing their medicines, procedures are carried out in unhygienic conditions in the hospitals, prescribes banned medicines or medicines which are not tested on humans for sufficiently long time, etc. etc.

Can the system be improved? Yes. What is actually required is thorough investigation to identify the causes for the death, fixing the responsibility and finally dissemination of the information for the benefit of others, including the general public. Government should come out with necessary action plan to sort out this universal problem. There should be supporting legislation and strong independent regulation to curb this menace. The regulating authorities should be empowered to take quick action against the guilty.