¾ Medical practitioners delivering new service without

any consideration in a charitable hospital or medical

camps are exempted from the provisions under CPA

¾ As per clause 2(d) (ii) of the CPA 1986, a consumer

implies any person who hires or avails of any service

for a consideration, which has been paid or promised,

or partly paid and partly promised, or under any

system of deferred payment, and includes any

beneficiary of such services other than the person

who hires or avails of the service for consideration

paid or promised or partly paid and partly promised

or under any system of deferred payment, when such

services are availed of with the approval of the first

mentioned person

¾ The time limit stipulated for filing a complaint is 2 years

from the date of alleged negligence

¾ Patients can be dealt with severely if they file frivolous and

false complaints just to harass the medical practitioner

¾ Free services provided are exempted under CPA

¾ A laboratorian is also a consumer as he buys various

instruments, equipment, diagnostic kits/reagents/

devices. He too can file a complaint under CPA for any

defect or deficiency in service related to that purpose

¾ Ignorance is not held as an excuse as an established

legal principle. Concurrently, law does not expect a

very high degree of knowledge but expects only average

knowledge from a medical practitioner

¾ Medical negligence is a civil wrongdoing classified as

‘tort’, where a medical practitioner fails to take proper

care in respect of examination, diagnosis, investigation,

treatment, etc. resulting in injury or mortality

¾ Laboratorians are expected to keep all reports

confidential (legally and ethically). The reports can

be divulged to the referring clinician or to the patient

or the relatives of the patient (with patient’s onsent).

Reports pertaining to sexually transmitted diseases or

HIV/AIDS should be handed over only to the patient

¾ Legally, only authorized or registered blood banks can

supply units of blood. All mandatory information must

be clearly mentioned on the bottle label legibly

¾ These days doctors have ‘Malpractice Insurance Covers’.

In case a legal notice is received by such a doctor, he

should immediately notify the insurance company. The

insurance company must take all necessary actions in

such a case. The company should appoint a lawyer to

give reply or to take legal steps and inform the doctor

about it. The doctor, by permission of the company, can

appoint a lawyer of his choice

¾ What constitutes a legal notice? Any letter received by

a medical practitioner from a patient or a voluntary

registered organization or an advocate, demanding

explanation about treatment given or demanding some

explanation about treatment for alleged injury or death

constitutes a legal notice

¾ Section 27 of the Civil Procedure Code provides that

when a suit has been duly instituted, a summon may

be issued to the defendant to answer the claim, and

such summon is to be served in the prescribed manner.

When a complaint is lodged before the commission or

the forum, the defendant practitioner is informed by a

registered letter by the office, which is called a summon

in legal parlance. In this summon, time for the reply

and date of hearing is mentioned. Usually, the time

given for filing the reply is 30 days.

LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS

Microscope