Newz Desk, Durgapur: The Supreme Court has reaffirmed that doctors cannot face criminal prosecution merely because a patient dies or a treatment fails. The court has ruled that before initiating criminal proceedings against a medical practitioner on allegations of negligence, investigating agencies must obtain the opinion of an independent medical expert in the relevant field.
A Bench of Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice P.B. Varale observed that criminal negligence can be established only if a doctor’s conduct is so grossly negligent that no reasonably competent medical professional would have acted in the same manner under similar circumstances.
The court referred to its landmark 2005 judgment in Jacob Mathew vs State of Punjab, which first laid down the requirement of obtaining an expert medical opinion before prosecuting doctors in criminal negligence cases. Reaffirming that principle, the Bench said investigators cannot proceed with criminal action solely on the basis of allegations and must first determine, through expert evaluation, whether the doctor’s conduct amounted to criminal negligence.
The Supreme Court also noted that medicine is not an exact science and that different accepted methods of treatment may exist for the same medical condition. It observed that differences in professional judgment, treatment choices, or ordinary errors of judgment do not by themselves constitute criminal offences.
The ruling has been welcomed by medical associations. Sajal Biswas, General Secretary of the Service Doctors’ Forum, said postoperative complications or adverse treatment outcomes should not automatically result in criminal cases, including charges of culpable homicide, against doctors.
Former General Secretary of the Association of Health Service Doctors, Manas Gumta, said an adverse medical outcome and medical negligence are not the same, and criminal proceedings should be based on evidence and expert assessment rather than allegations alone.
However, Dr. Kunal Saha, President of People for Better Treatment (PBT), expressed a different view. He argued that while expert opinion may be necessary in complex negligence cases, it should not be mandatory in cases of obvious negligence, such as leaving a surgical towel inside a patient’s body after an operation. In such instances, he said, the legal principle of res ipsa loquitur (“the thing speaks for itself”) should apply.
The ruling is expected to provide greater legal clarity on the threshold for initiating criminal proceedings against medical professionals while balancing patient rights and accountability in healthcare.
