The recent Supreme Court order awarding Rs 6 crore as compensation in a medical negligence case in Kolkata has made several doctors anxious in Bangalore.
The recent Supreme Court order awarding Rs 6 crore as compensation in a medical negligence case in Kolkata has made several doctors in Bangalore anxious. Many think the amount is 'unreasonable' and want a cap on the compensation that can be claimed.
"I think it is slightly unreasonable. Mistakes do happen. It was very unfortunate but there should be a reasonable cap as to how much should be given," says Dr Sunaina Gowda, a young doctor working in the casualty department of a hospital in Bangalore for the last one and a half years.
"We will be scared to enter super-speciality as this area is most affected by this kind of compensation," Dr Gowda adds.
Dr Gowda is earning as much as her 21-year-old younger sister who is a management professional. She is concerned about her future finances once she leaves her family. "From my point of view, it should be based on a doctor's salary. We don't get paid as much as in the west. We are paid according to our country. And compensation should take all that into account," she says.
Doctors argue they want to cure, not kill, and admit mistakes do happen. Most doctors want a cap on the amount of compensation that can be claimed.
Dr Madan S Gaekwad, Senior Executive Vice President of Sagar Hospitals told NDTV, "The compensation is unrealistic, exorbitant. What I would suggest is, the guilty of course have to be punished but then there has to be certain capping to determine the medical negligence compensation that is to be awarded.
Dr Gaekwad says doctors would indulge in defensive practices like ordering several unnecessary diagnostic tests or patients may not be taken into hospitals.
"Care has always been there. Medical science is not mathematics. It is not 2 plus 2 is always 4. There are a lot of grey areas," he adds.
Senior cardiac surgeon, Dr Devi Shetty has been lobbying for a cap on compensation that a doctor can be asked to pay. "We are still a poor country, and more than 95% of the doctors in this country, even if they sell their nursing home and their house and farmland would not be able to come up with 11 crore rupees. We are requesting the government that they have to cap the compensation to their ability to pay," he says.
"In US, the maximum compensation in 20 states is 250 000 dollars, that is one and a half crore rupees. By the current regulation, an America patient is better off suing an Indian doctor than an American doctor," Dr Shetty adds.
Accountability is important in the medical practice and doctors responsible for negligence should be made to pay. However, many doctors in India are concerned what the huge financial compensation, when things go wrong, could do to their sense of confidence and their willingness to take on a difficult case.