“ No Cure is Not a Negligence”- NCDRC

Stand of Doctors :
1. The Treating doctors refuted all the allegations. The nursing notes also show 85% O 2 saturation and B.P. was falling . O 2 was administered, injection Akenil was given for the fever and patient was shifted to ICU.

Held :

1. After perusing the record and arguments, the National Commission upheld the dismissal of complaint. It was an emergency, the doctors performed CPR to revive the patient, but patient could not survive. It should be borne in mind that, “ No Cure is Not a Negligence”. It is the tendency of the person to sue the doctors in such cases.

2. In the context doctor’s skill and duty of care, the Hon’ble Supreme Court observed in Achutrao Haribhau Khodwa and others versus State of Maharashtra and others (1996) 2 SCC 634 as follows:

“The skill of medical practitioners differs from doctor to doctor. The very nature of the profession is such that there may be more than one course of treatment which may be advisable for treating a patient. Courts would indeed be slow in attributing negligence on the part of a doctor if he has performed his duties to the best of his ability and with due care and caution. Medical opinion may differ with regard to the course of action to be taken by a doctor treating a patient, but as long as a doctor acts in a manner which is acceptable to the medical profession, and the Court finds that he has attended on the patient with due care skill and diligence and if the patient still does not survive or suffers a permanent ailment, it would be difficult to hold the doctor to be guilty of negligence.”

This judgment is indeed a sigh of relief for all the medicos. Proper treatment and proper documentation once again saved Doctors, this is the lesson to be learnt.

thanks and regards

Adv. Rohit Erande.
Pune.

You can read the full judgement by clicking on the following link

http://cms.nic.in/ncdrcusersWeb/GetJudgement.do…