The former Chief Justice of Karnataka and Kerala High Courts V.S. Malimath on Sunday expressed the need for independent medical practitioners to compulsorily assist a judge in a medico-legal case, providing an insight that would aid the judge in understanding the case.
He was speaking at a felicitation programme organised by the Private Hospital and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA). Mr. Malimath said that the medical expert could help in explaining the intricacies of the case and the judge may deliver quality justice to aggrieved parties.
He urged the doctors attending the conference not to get bogged down by comments and criticism by patients. He said, “Let the legal professionals deal with the cases. Do not bother about those dragging you to court. Only a small minority blame doctors, a majority of them keep respect doctors.”
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Mr. Malimath said that the Transplantation of Human Organs Act (1994), which was amended in 2011, made it difficult for a patient’s relatives to donate kidney. “The Act also prevents people from buying kidney. Why should they be prohibited from buying an organ? The money would certainly help the person who donated the kidney in meeting his healthcare expenses,” he said.
Earlier, K. Shekhar, a former president of PHANA, said that over the past few months there have been cases of patients’ relatives breaking furniture and blaming hospital management and doctors for deaths. “People should understand that doctors try to save patients but at times death becomes inevitable,” he added.