Criminal Law Remedies

When a patient dies after treatment, a grieving family often says the doctor should be arrested. Criminal law can reach a doctor, but it does so carefully, because a doctor who is jailed for every bad result would soon stop treating risky cases. So what must be proved before a doctor faces a criminal court, what does the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita say, and what has the Supreme Court told the police to do first? This topic answers those questions.

In two minutes

A doctor is criminally liable for a patient's death only for a rash or negligent act that is gross, punishable under BNS s.106(1) with a lower maximum of two years for a registered medical practitioner performing a medical procedure; BNS s.125 covers acts endangering life, and the Supreme Court in Jacob Mathew (2005) requires gross negligence and a credible medical opinion before prosecution.

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