A physician or a doctor practices bedside medicine and not Law. His acts when tested on the anvil of law has to be strictly contextual – case specific, context specific and situation specific. Inability to recreate and understand the real time case details leads to miscarriage of justice. Consider in this context a recent case decided by the Rajasthan State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission headed by a retired judge. Rs.45 lacs with 9% interest have been awarded against the treating hospital.
It was a neglected case of Hirschsprung’s disease in a 14-year-old child. It is a congenital condition present since birth. There is a terminal segment of the large intestine in which the ganglion cells that enable it to dilate when the intestinal contents – faeces – arrives. The contents of the intestine move by peristaltic wave of contraction. As a proximal segment of the intestine…
