Dear sir/madam
I would like to have an opinion on the following case:
A patient came as an emergency with history of vomiting and diabetes in a nursing home.the nursing authorities admitted the patient under Dr A(i am witholdinh the identity of the doctor here),a consutant.When contacted over the phone Dr A informed the nursing home that he was not available and requested them to place the patient under some other consultant.After about three hours in the nursing home the patient died.Following this there was extreme vandlism by the patient party at the nursing home with destruction of property.After this the the patient's son filed a cmplaint at the local PS against Dr A and within 2 hour of the complaint the police registered an FIR under 304A against Dr A..The following day Dr A had to surrender in court and was granted bail.
1)In the GD of the patient party there is no specific allegation of any"gross and negligent act"which was committed by DR A which directly led to the death of the patient.All that is mentioned in the GD is that Dr A did not give importance to the case,patient ided witout treatment and had Dr A shown more concern the patient would not have died.
2)The GD says that a nurse started the treatment with injection and saline.
3)The FIR form says that ptient died due to negligent act of Dr A but does not specify what that act was.
4)The police allowed the nursing home authorities to give the death certificate and have not done a post mortem
According to the Jacob mathew case of 2005 the supeme court has now given guidelines which nust be followed in such cases:
A private complaint will not be entertained in court unless it is accompanied by an opinion from another competent doctor who supports that prima facie there is a case of criminal negilgence
The police on receiving a complaint must refer the matter to a committee of doctors and if this committe opines that there is a case of criminal negigence only then the police should register a case
The doctor is not to be arrested as a matter of routine simply because a charege has been brought sgainst him.moreover
None of the above mentioned supreme court directives were followed by the police inthis case.Moreover the GD(which is to be taken as the FIR as mentioned by the police in the FIR form)does not contain any allegation of a cognizable offence.Is this a fit case ot for quashing by the high cort under section 482?
What treatment the patient received at the nursing home in the absence of DR A and who gave the instructions for this treatment the nursing home is silent.Moreover the nursing home is saying that while the vandalism was going on all the patient files went missing and they are alleging that the patients relatives who indulged in the vandalism has stolen them.In fact the nursing home filed an FIR against the patient party for the vandalism and they have been booked by the police for destruction of property,unlwful assembly,theft etc.
