Pysician Heal Thyself

Foreign voice in medical case
- Supreme Court allows experts from abroad to testify
SAMANWAYA RAUTRAY

New Delhi, May 17: The Supreme Court has for the first time allowed foreign experts to testify in a medical negligence case, setting a precedent that could transform such lawsuits in India.

One reason few medical negligence cases in the country lead to compensation is that Indian doctors are notoriously reluctant to testify against their peers.

The top court today cleared the decks for four US experts to depose through video-conferencing in the high-profile Anuradha Saha case, where the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission is to fix the amount of compensation to be paid by four doctors and a Calcutta hospital.

The commission had last month refused to let these experts depose in favour of US-based doctor Kunal Saha, who has sought Rs 78 crore as damages for wife Anuradha’s “wrongful” death in AMRI Hospitals, Calcutta, in 1998.

The apex court also said the four doctors and the hospital must foot the bill for the deposition by the US experts, which an elated Saha felt should be a precedent too.

The top court had last August held the accused negligent under the Consumer Protection Act and merely asked the commission to fix the compensation.

Saha wants to produce John Last Burke, an economist from Cleveland; John Broughton, a psychology professor from Columbia University, New York; Joe Griffith, a legal expert on damages in medical negligence cases; and Angela Hill, an economist from Ohio.

The psychologist is expected to depose on the trauma caused to Saha and the economists to estimate the losses he had suffered. The NRI couple were both doctors, the husband a consultant on HIV/AIDS and the wife a child psychologist.

Although none of the four US experts is a doctor, the apex court’s order applies to foreign doctors too. Saha, speaking over the phone from the US, hoped that more victims of medical negligence in India would now be encouraged to move court.

Anuradha, a patient of toxic epidermal necrolysis, was 36 when, during a trip to India, she died of complications from an alleged steroid overdose.

This decison of the Supreme Court is welcome but I don't know how much it would benefit the common man. After all how many Indians can get foreign specialist to tetify for them.
Dr Kunal has the money to continue to fight his case.
Dr Saha has a site http://www.pbtindia.com/ which high -lights the corruption of the medical profession and takes of the cause of affected patients,the common man who:

1) Has to put up with unethical prescriptions of high valued drug when cheaper drugs are available just because the drug companies pay for the physician's holiday.
2) Prescribing unnecessary tests as the doctor gets 30 to 40% as commission on the money collected by the test labs.
3) Unnecessary references to other specialists so the that specialist also refers patients to him.
4) Advising unnecessary operaton where just medicines would suffice.
5) Removal of vital organs from poor people without informing them to give to the rich
6) Conducting prenatal tests with the aim of removing female foetuses.

See the irony.
The head of MCI, Ketan Desai, hinself is caught taking a bribe of a few crores.
The MCI is supposed to control he medical profession.
Coincidently he had been caught earlier but was let off by the CBI because of political pressures.
The CBI as we all know, is very amenable to political pressures.

Oh! the charges against the medical profession is countless and sending them to hell would also be being kind to them.
They deserve a place which is worse than hell.