July 27, 2018:
High Court stated that Medical professionals have been put on a pedestal and time has come to weed out careless and negligent persons in the medical profession.
On Thursday, Bombay HC expounded that,"Prescribing medicines to patients without diagnosis amounted to culpable negligence".
High Court Bench headed by Justice Sadhana Jadhav turned down Anticipatory Bail pleas of a doctor couple booked for death of a woman patient.
HC Bench made the observations while hearing Anticipatory Bail pleas filed by a Gynaecologist couple Deepa and Sanjeev Pawaskar.
They had been booked by the Ratnagiri Police under Section 304 of Indian Penal Code (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) after the patient died earlier this year.
According to the Police, the woman was admitted to Accused couple's hospital in Ratnagiri in February this year where she underwent caesarean operation and gave birth to a baby.
High Court's Order states that,"The woman and the child were normal and were discharged two days later. However, the next day the woman fell sick and her relatives called up Deepa Pawaskar, who asked them to go to a medicine shop and let her speak with the chemist there over phone".
Doctor spoke with Chemist who then gave some medicines to the relatives of the woman. However, even after taking the medicines, the woman did not feel better and was taken to the same hospital, it said.
Both Deepa and Sanjeev Pawaskar were not present at the hospital at that time but they told Woman's family that they should admit her and she would be discharged the next day. When the woman's condition deteriorated the next day, Doctors at the hospital shifted her to another hospital, where she died, states the Order.
HC Bench's Order further states that, Doctors at the second hospital informed the victim's kin that she had died due to negligence on part of the Pawaskars, following which a case was registered against them, the order said.
Bombay HC High pointed out that there was no effort to refer the woman to another doctor in absence of Deepa Pawaskar and she (Deepa) continued to prescribe medicines telephonically.
Thus HC Bench concluded that,"Prescription without diagnosis would amount to culpable negligence. This amounts to gross negligence from the point of standard of care and recklessness and negligence, which is a tricky road to travel".
HC Bench rejected the pleas, but stayed its order till August 2 to allow Accused Doctore couple to file Appeals against the order.
Source PTI
Read Judgment @LatestLaws.com:
Bombay HC Order in Medical Negligence case (Download PDF)
Bombay HC Order in Medical Negligence Case by Latest Laws Team on Scribd
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