Detailed Report: Indian Judiciary System and Medical Malpractice

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the Indian judicial system and medical malpractice. It begins by outlining the hierarchical structure of the Indian judiciary, including the Supreme Court, High Courts, and District Courts, detailing their roles and functions. The report then delves into th...Read More

Running head: HEALTHCARE
HEALTHCARE
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1. Existing Judicial system of India
The Indian judicial system consists of a hierarchical structure – different types of courts, each
with variable powers. The powers depends upon the tier and the jurisdiction conferred upon
them. The hierarchical structure of the Indian judiciary system initiates with the supreme court of
India situated at the top , followed by the high courts of the states and the district judges present
in the district courts with magistrate of the second class. The Civil judge is positioned at the
bottom of the hierarchy (Dan Charan, 2019). As per the constitution of India, the Indian judicial
system is independent of the legislative and the executive department of the government.
Courts –
Supreme court of India
This the highest court of India as mentioned in the Part V, chapter IV of the Indian
constitution system. As per the Indian constitution, the role that the Supreme Court play, is
similar to federal court, who is the guardian of the constitution and also is the highest court of
appeal. The Supreme Court consists of chief justice and a maximum of seven judges unless the
parliament decides to increase it by law( Dan Charan 2019). Currently the total number of judges
in Supreme Court, including the chief justice is 26. Normally the president appoints both the
judges and the chief justice.
High courts-

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21 high courts are present at the apex of the judicial hierarchy of each of the states.
Below the high courts, there some subordinate courts like civil courts, family courts, criminal
courts and other district courts. It is the high court that holds all the trials in the state. As per Part
VI, chapter the V, high courts are considered as institutional courts (Ncib.in 2019). The high
courts are the principle civil courts of the original jurisdiction. High courts can only exercise
their civil and criminal jurisdiction if the courts, inferior to high court in the states are not
competent to conduct such trials.
District courts
It is the State governments that establishes the district courts . These courts handle cases
at the district level. These courts function under the high court of the state. The district court has
one District judge, who is normally selected by the State government (Ncib.in, 2019). Apart from
the chief judges, additional district judges can be selected, depending upon the workload of the
courts (Ncib.in, 2019).
Village courts-
They are named as Lok Adalat, specially meant for providing justice to the villagers and
generally solves disputes in the micro level. As per the Gram Gram Nyalaya Act, 5000 mobile
courts had been functioning in the country for handling the petty civil cases.
In the Indian judiciary system, there are some formal written orders called WRIT. Some
of the Writ are- Habeas Corpus, Mandamus, Quo Warranto, Certiorari and prohibition.
Habeas Corpus- Legal action that can help a person from unlawful detention of a person.

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Mandamus- It is a judicial order issued by the Supreme Court in order to compel a lower court
to do their duties properly.
Quo Warranto- This can arise in a civil case in case the plaintiff claim that a corporate official id
wrongfully exercising his hierarchical power.
Prohibition- It is a legal document that is issued by the Supreme Court to a Judge who had been
presiding over a suite in a lower court. The writ is mainly to stop the subordinate doing any
unlawful deeds.
2. What do you understand by Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice normally occurs in case a health care professional or a health care
organization, harm a patient due to an act of omission or negligence. Negligence might casue
errors in treatment, diagnosis, treatment and health management (Bal 2009). A claim can only be
considered as a medical malpractice if the claim has the following characteristics-
Violating the standard of care- there are certain professional standards, which the health care
professionals are bound to uphold. If a plaintiff determines, that the care standards has not been
met, then a lawsuit for negligence can be filed (Bal 2009).
Injury caused due to negligence- In order to validate the claim of a medical malpractice,
violation of the standard of care would not be sufficient to file a lawsuit. In such cases, the
patient will have to prove that the deterioration in the standard of care or the negative outcomes
has been caused by negligence. If there is an injury that has been causes without negligence, then
no case will be filed.

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Injury resulting in significant damages- In order to file cases, patients will have to show that
significant injury has been caused by the negligence. This is due to the fact that medical
litigations always incur high cost, frequently needing proof of the numerous medical experts and
several hours for the disposition of the testimony. Hence, in order to pursue a medical
malpractice the claim the plaintiff has to prove that the injury has dome some permanent damage
like disability, unusual pain, loss of income, suffering, unreasonably huge medical bills.
Some of the common example of medical malpractice involves, failure to detect,
misreading the laboratory reports, unnecessary prescription of medicines or surgery due for high
medical bills, errors during surgery or errors while administering medication to the patients, poor
follow up or adherence, failure to order for testing, failure to recognize the symptoms, treatment t
without informed consent. Negligence is the breach of duty of care. In United States the lawsuit
for the medical malpractice are conducted in the state trial courts. In India doctors, might be held
liable for their services individually unless they come with the exceptions specified in some of
the cases. In relation to the criminal prosecution by the Supreme Court, the court has issued some
effective guidelines like the current practices, infrastructure, staffs should be observed strictly. A
doctor should not experiments unless it is extremely necessary and even if it is done a written
consent has to be observed from the patient (Agrawal ,2016). However, the law should seek to
protect and safe guard the interest of the patients for expecting a minimum standard of care.

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References
Agrawal A. 2016. Medical negligence: Indian legal perspective. Annals of Indian Academy of
Neurology, 19(Suppl 1), S9–S14.
Bal B. S. 2009. An introduction to medical malpractice in the United States. Clinical
orthopaedics and related research, 467(2), 339–347.
Dan Charan, B. 2019. The Judiciary System of India: Supreme and High Courts, Concepts,
Q&As. [online] Toppr-guides. Available at:
https://www.toppr.com/guides/general-knowledge/the-judiciary-system-of-india/judiciary-
system/ [Accessed 7 Jun. 2019].
Eloy, J. A., Svider, P. F., Patel, D., Setzen, M., & Baredes, S. (2013). Comparison of plaintiff
and defendant expert witness qualification in malpractice litigation in otolaryngology.
Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery, 148(5), 764-769.
Indiancourts.nic.in. (2019). Welcome to Indian Courts. [online] Available at:
http://indiancourts.nic.in/ [Accessed 7 Jun. 2019].
Ncib.in. 2019. Judiciary system of India. [online] Available at:
https://www.ncib.in/pdf/judiciary-of-india.pdf [Accessed 7 Jun. 2019].