Abstract

The medical fraternity in India has been subjected to a tremendous change since the introduction of “Consumer Protection Act”. This act has provided an easy, cheap, speedy and effective redressal system for the consumer’s complaints; thus, causing a high degree of rise in the cases of Medical negligence. Moreover, the Supreme Court of India had passed a judgment in the “Anuradha Saha” wrongful death case a few years back, on 24th October 2013, which has become a Landmark Judgment in the Indian Law regarding cases of “Medical Negligence”. The Apex Court had invoked the “Doctrine of Restitutio ad integrum” for calculation of compensation in the “Anuradha Saha” wrongful death case instead of the routinely used “Multiplier method”, and emphasized that all future cases of “Medical Negligence” must be decided for compensation using the same principle. Therefore, the doctors or hospitals are being asked to pay the compensation on a higher side, than what would have been in the past using Multiplier method. In view of this present day scenario, the medical professionals need to know what exactly the “Doctrine of Restitutio ad integrum” is and what impact it has made on the calculation of compensatory amount, so that they can be well-prepared for such new threats arising to the medical profession and can make up for some preventive measures to deal with such changing circumstances.

Authors and Affiliations