‘Consider forming cell of well-trained cops to deal with med negligence plaints’

The Bombay High Court on Friday suggested that the Maharashtra government consider creating a special cell of welltrained police officers to deal with registering FIRs against doctors over complaints of medical negligenceA bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni also said the state must make police officers aware of the existing law and Supreme Court rulings about registering offences against medical practitioners following complaints by friends or relatives of patientsThe court was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations PILs on management of resources related to Covid19 and another on rising instances of attacks on doctors by patients relativesOn Thursday advocate Rajesh Inamdar counsel for one of the petitioners had informed the court that several doctors working in Covid19 wards had been receiving notices from the police following complaints by relatives of patients who were unhappy with the treatment or in cases where patients had succumbed to the diseaseInamdar was referring to the protocol issued last year by the Maharashtra government that keeps getting revised from time to time and deals with the drugs and line of treatment that must be provided to Covid19 patientsA doctor representing the Indian Medical Association IMA who was also present for the hearing via videoconferencing then told the court that ldquodoctors were being attacked unnecessarilyrdquoHe said that while doctors stuck to the protocol as much as possible the administration of a particular drug or a certain dose depended on the condition of the patient his or her comorbidities response to the line of treatment etcThe doctor further said sometimes medical practitioners had to prescribe alternate drugs due to unavailability of those mentioned in the protocolThe High Court had said at the time that doctors already overworked due to the pandemic must not have to face such harassment or spend anytime giving explanations to the policeIt had directed the Maharashtra Advocate General AG for assistance on the existing laws on the issueOn Friday the AG submitted a slew of previous SC judgements to show that the police must not unthinkingly register an offence unless there existed an apparent or reasonable case of negligenceThe court then said the police must be trained to ascertain which cases required an immediate registration of offence You state must make your police officers aware of the law and the SC rulings on the issue There can be a cell consisting of police officers who are well adapted to handle these situations It will not go to any ABC police officer All complaints on medical negligence will go to welltrained officersrdquo the bench saidldquoThe position today is that the police must be a little cautious It should not act immediately unless he or she takes a medical opinion that there is a genuine case of medical negligence Otherwise a doctor will not be mentally free while workingrdquo the court notedThe court directed the state to take a decision and place it before the High Court by June 16 following which it will pass an orderThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever