Fighting medical negligence

I am writing this for the information of those who plan to file or who have just filed medical negligence cases. You have a chance of winning if there is direct evidence in your favour: if a forceps was left inside the operated patient, the wrong part removed, the wrong blood group given, and so on. In the absence of such direct evidence, you have to prove the doctors’ negligence. This will be an uphill task with almost no chance of winning.

I filed a complaint with a medical council, the so-called body of medical experts. During the hearing of my case they did not allow me to have an advocate. They did not examine a single medical paper before deciding the case. Professional sympathy and contacts go against the complainant, here. Facts have no value. How will an ordinary man to argue a medical case against doctors? The accused doctors’ statements and their image carry more weight than those of someone with no medical knowledge. So your chances of winning in a medical council are ‘nil’. The (negative) opinion given by a medical council will harm any legal case that you file, as it carries the verdict of a body of medical experts. So never go to a medical council for justice. You will only lose.

When you go to the legal system the person hearing your case has no medical knowledge. The statements of the accused doctors and the opinion of the medical council carry more weight and form the basis of the verdict.

Many doctors will sympathise with you and even give you an opinion in your favour but will not sign it. An unsigned opinion has no value in law. The doctors will say that signing will cause professional enmity. Why should they damage their reputations for a person who is not related to them?

Those judging medical negligence cases should understand the problems faced by complainants and accept unsigned medical opinions, forwarding them if necessary to a public sector hospital for comment, before deciding the case.