Vol , Issue Date of Publication: October 01, 2004
DOI: https://doi.org/10.20529/IJME.2004.061

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Criminal liability for medical negligence: a drastic change?

M R Hariharan Nair
Abstract:
The Supreme Court declared on August 4, 2004, in Dr Suresh Gupta's Criminal Appeal [Appeal (crl.) 778 of 2004] that to sustain a prosecution for the offence under S. 304A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and to fix criminal liability on a doctor or surgeon, the standard of negligence required to be proved should be so high that it can be described as 'gross negligence' or 'recklessness', not merely lack of necessary care. On those premises it quashed the criminal proceedings against Dr Gupta before they reached trial in the Magistrate's Court.


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©Indian Journal of Medical Ethics 2016: Open Access and Distributed under the Creative Commons license ( CC BY-NC-ND 4.0),
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