Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and Medical Profession

When a family in Kharghar pays a private hospital for a knee operation and it goes wrong, the quickest place to complain is not always a civil court. It is a consumer commission, where a written complaint, a modest fee and a hearing in your own district can start the case. But does a patient count as a consumer, and is treatment a service? The answer, and the limits of it, are what this topic covers.

In two minutes

Under the Consumer Protection Act 2019 a patient who pays, or promises to pay, for treatment is a consumer, medical care is a service, and negligence is a deficiency for which a District, State or National Commission can order compensation; free services and contracts of personal service fall outside.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Law and Medicine on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.