Legal Provisions Relating to Medical Negligence in India with special reference to Consumer Protection Act 1986

Medical negligence has now become one of India's most serious problems. Even being one of the noblest professions, does not save the medical profession from neglect which results in patient death, complete or partial limb impairment, or another form of agony. This article covers the meaning of negligence as mentioned by the landmark judgements, the essentials of medical negligence, the remedies available to the plaintiffs. It also analyses the Bolam test with the help of case laws and it’s prevalence in India. The compensation claims in Medical Negligence cases are of large amount which may act as an attraction for unnecessary claims adding to the pressure on already overloaded judiciary system of our country, Moreover, the increase in such claims with false or unnecessary cases can also hinder with the performance of other medical practitioners forcing them to operate only on ‘by the book’ approach in cases where their own methods could have saved the life of the patient.