India is witnessing an alarming rise in cases of medical negligence filed in consumer cases against hospitals and medical professionals. [1-3] A heavy compensation was ordered in some of these cases. In a judgment given in October 2013 on medical negligence, the Supreme Court awarded compensation amounting to Rs. 11 Crore to a victim, which was to be paid by the doctors and the private hospital deemed responsible for the wrongful death of a patient. This landmark decision was by far the largest compensation award in the history of Indian medical negligence litigation.
The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), New Delhi, on August 26, 2022, awarded an exemplary compensation of Rs. 1 Crore to the parents of a 6-year-old child. The child was admitted for a squint eye correction surgery and died while undergoing squint surgery at an eye hospital in Chennai. In July…
