MEDICAL LAW AND ETHICS is defined as the moral principle that should guide medical professionals in the course of treating patients and their dealings with patients and other members of the same profession.
Violation of medical ethics may be of two types-
1. Professional Infamous Conduct or Professional Misconduct
2. Professional Negligence or Malpractice
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PROFESSIONAL INFAMOUS CONDUCT:
It is an act done by a medical man that should reasonably be regarded as disgraceful or dishonorable by his professional brethren of good repute and competency. The following conducts are regarded as professional infamous conduct: –
(1) Adultery or any improper conduct, association, or relationship with the patient or a member of the patient family.
(2) Performing Abortion or enabling an unqualified person to perform an abortion or illegal operation for which there is no indication.
(3) Association with manufacturing firm:
(a)A physician should not hold any personal ownership in patents for any drug, apparatus, instruments or appliances used in medicine or surgery.
(b)He should not solicit or receive rebates or commissions from prescribing of any agent therapeutically.
(c)A physician must not prescribe private formulae of which only he or a particular pharmacy has the key
(4) Advertising:
(a)A physician should not publish in the lay press his reports of cases treated or operated on by him.
(b)A physician must not exhibit publicly the scale of fees except in his consulting or waiting room.
(c)A physician can announce in lay or professional press his starting of practice, interrupt or restart it after a long interval, or change his address, but such an announcement shall not appear more than twice.
(d)An institution, such as a maternity home, a sanatorium, a house for the crippled or blind etc., may advertise in the lay press, but the name of the doctor should not appear.
(e)It is improper for a physician to use a large signboard and write on it anything other than his name, qualification, and specialty. The same should not be the content of his prescription paper.
(f)It is unwise to affix a signboard in a chemist’s medicine shop or in places where he does not reside or work.
(5) Addiction to any drug or Alcoholism disorderly so as to interfere with the proper skilled practice of medicine.
(6) Professional Association with bodies or societies of unqualified persons formed for the purpose of turning unqualified practitioners
(7) Conviction by the Criminal Court of Law for offenses involving moral turpitude except for political punishment.
(8) Issuing a false, misleading or improper Certificate in connection with sick benefits, insurance, passports, court attendance, public services, etc.
(9)Contravention of the provisions of the current Drug Act.
(10)Covering, i.e. assisting someone who has no medical degree or qualification to attend or perform an operation on someone in cases requiring professional discretion or skills in such a way that members of the public are misled as to their true status.
(11)Running an open shop for selling drugs, dispensing prescriptions from other doctors, or selling medical or surgical appliances.
(12)Dichotomy or fee splitting, i.e., receiving or giving commission to a professional colleague or manufacturer or trader of drugs or appliances or a chemist or dentist etc.
(13)Disclosing a patient’s secrets learned during his professional experience, except in privileged communication.
(14)Refusal to give professional service on religious, racist, political or social grounds.
(15)Selling Scheduled Poison to the public under cover of his professional qualifications, except to his patient, if necessary.
(16)Using of Touts or agents for procuring patient
(17) Withholding from health authorities from giving the information about Notifiable diseases.
PROFESSIONAL NEGLIGENCE
Professional Negligence (Malpractice) is defined as the absence of reasonable care, gross unskilfulness, or willful Negligence of a medical practitioner in the process of treatment of a patient, which causes damage or bodily injury or death of a patient.
This definition actually is not entirely correct. although all the negligent acts are professional infamous conduct, only some professional infamous conduct is professional Negligence, though they may not be related to the treatment of a patient. Performing a criminal abortion and giving a false certificate is such an example.
Negligence is defined as: –
Doing something that one competent physician is not supposed to do at this moment.
or
failing to do something that one competent physician is supposed to do at this moment.
Absence of reasonable care & skill is: –
when a doctor improperly or unjustifiably deviates from accepted practice
or
when he employs accepted practice but does so unskillfully.
Any absence of proper skill or care that causes a patient’s death, diminishes his chance of recovery, prolongs his illness or increases his suffering constitutes injury in a legal sense. To recover from damage from a doctor, the patient must suffer some loss, which can be measured and compensated in terms of money. Some examples of damage are: –
1. Loss of earning
2. Expenses incurred
3. Reduction of expectation of life
4. Pain & suffering, either physical or mental
5. Loss of potency
6. Death
A physician may be liable for any damage-
a.if there is no informed consent, where it is necessary
b.if he fails to attend to the patient in time without reasonable cause
c.if he fails to see the patient as frequently as required
d.if he fails to give proper instruction
e.if his Negligence causes others to catch a disease from him
f.if he fails to examine the patient himself but relies on the diagnosis of other
g.if he makes a wrong diagnosis due to absence of skill or care
h.if he follows an improper treatment
i.if he fails to warn of a dangerous side effect of a drug, he prescribes
j.if he prematurely discharges the patient
Professional Negligence may be two types-
(1)Civil Negligence
(2)Criminal Negligence
Civil Negligence:
The question of civil Negligence arises when a patient, or in case of death, any relative brings suit in a civil court for the realization of compensation from his doctor if he has suffered any injury due to Negligence. In fact, the charge of civil Negligence is brought when the damage due to the negligent act of a doctor is not so gross that it causes death or severe disability of a patient.
Some examples are-
1. Breaking of the needle while giving the injection.
2. Drug overdose
3. Failure to give tetanus toxoid in tetanus-prone injury
4. Over I.V. fluid infusion
5. Failure to warn about side effects
6. Wrong diagnosis
7. Pyrogenic reaction of blood or infusion
Criminal Negligence:
Criminal Negligence occurs when a doctor shows a gross lack of competency, gross inattention, and criminal indifference to the patient’s safety, or gross Negligence in the selection and application of remedies causes death, severe disability, permanent morbidity or diminishes the chance of recovery.
MEDICAL LAW AND ETHICS
Some examples are-
1. Mismatched blood transfusion
2. Gross mismanagement of delivery
3. Amputation of the wrong finger or limb
4. Operation on the wrong area or the wrong patient
5. Leaving the instrument in the abdomen
6. Performing criminal Abortion
7. Grossly incompetent administration of general anesthetics
8. Causing loss of vision or hearing due to administration of the wrong drugs
