The medical profession was brought under the purview of the Consumer Protection Act with the apparent purpose of providing speedy redressal to the grievances of an ordinary patient. One cannot shrug off the feeling that it was a populist measure of the welfare state, not that any politician or bureaucrat cares what happens to the millions of patients day in and day out. The medical community viewed it as unjustified, unwarranted and discriminatory nose poking in their profession. It was up in arms against it and when neither politicians nor the judiciary listened, it ultimately resigned to it sullenly and sulkily.
The public treated it as something of a windfall and made a beeline to the consumer courts. At this point in time, the only people who seem to have benefited from the whole exercise are some judges, a lot of lawyers and all insurance companies. Unwittingly, the patient is…
