A recent survey carried out by National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, has pointed out four reasons for the rise in medical litigation in India.

These include greater consumer awareness, flexible consumer forums, cost of medical services, and consumers mindset to enter litigation, said Sairam Bhat, associate professor and coordinator, Distance education department, and CEERA, NLSIU, Bengaluru.

Mr. Bhat was the chief guest at a workshop on “Rising medical litigation and possible solutions” organized by NLSIU and SDM Law College and Centre for PG Studies and Research in Law.

He said there is a steady increase in the cases of medical litigation in the country. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of their rights, duties and responsibilities, and are ready to fight out any deficiency in service delivery mechanisms, he said. Flexibility and ease provided by consumer forums to file a complaint before the consumer courts too has aided this trend, he said. Unlike moving a regular civil court to file a case, consumers can now do so with ease in a consumer court, he said. He cited instances of consumers arguing their case themselves rather than through advocates.

The Healthcare Focus

With healthcare costs increasing, the expectations from medical institutions are also higher. Patients tend to point out negligence in the smallest deficiency in service delivery, he said.

The Indian public also has a mindset to ‘litigate’. No longer are they averse to moving courts and seeking justice. He suggested that its better to – mediate than litigate.

Dr Suresh B Shetty, head of department of forensic science, Kasturba Medical College, Mangaluru, who released an e-journal, said doctors are literally in the dock because of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. Noting that the courts are jammed with cases of medical negligence, Shetty remarked that this is not a welcome sign, said things have come to a stage where doctors – both new comers and seniors – are wary of treating complex cases lest they are charged with negligence.

Citing statistics from the research registry, he said the cases of medical negligence have gone up by 400% in the last decade. Noting that the trust between patients and doctors is waning, Shetty said high compensation too has made doctors and medical institutions wary. While advocating punishment for negligent doctors, he said that the focus should be on quality patient care.