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STANDARDS OF EVIDENCE VIS-À-VIS TRANSPARANCY OF TREATMENT REGIME - IMPEDIMENTS IN MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE LITIGATION AUTHOR- Adv.RANI PREMKUMAR ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Medical negligence litigation, which enriched the Consumer Protection case-laws in India, is studied in this paper from the angle of the complainant with respect to the standards of proof that is required to bring up a litigation, analyzing the trends set in Bolam and Bolitho cases.This paper emphasizes the need for transparency in treatment regime like the availability of the documented treatment plan adopted, medicines administered etc;for the initiation of litigation especially in non ‘res ipsa loquitor cases. METHODOLOGY In this study I have ventured to analyze medical negligence cases in private hospitals, which do not get covered under the Right to Information Act,2005(RTI Act), for which I have selected medical negligence instances in Kerala involving private hospitals. An open and closed end structured questionnaire with ten items was given out to 23 claimants/complainants selected by purposive and convenience sampling methods. Data was collected from secondary sources also like journals, books, internet, etc. RESULTS 73.91% of the subjects were alive and 69.56% of complainants were shifted to other hospitals when medical negligence became obvious.0% of complainants could procure previous medical records, treatment plan at the time of discharge.86.95% of respondents could not establish prima facie medical negligence because of lack of medical records.43.47% of respondents opine that compensation is the main reason behind medical negligence litigations while 56.52% claim that it is to prevent others from going through the same predicament that medical negligence litigations are filed. 22 out of 23 respondents recommend the transparency in documentation to make doctors accountable in medical negligence issues. CONCLUSION The study points out the inadequacies in the process of access to medical records and the consequent lack of authoritative claim of medical negligence which can be remedied by placing private hospitals also accountable through the Right To Information Act, 2005 including it in the definition of “public authority”(with measures like making private hospitals register under the State Health Department which is a public authority;and that the MCI(Medical COuncil Of India),a statutory body,which governs medical matters in India; and by enlarging the scope of S.8(1)(j) of the RTI Act,2005 where sound negligence- free medical care is treated as a matter of public interest.
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Key words: Medical negligence, Bolam, Bolitho, res ipsa loquitor, private hospitals, Right to Information, public interest,
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