In a far reaching judgement delivered by the Supreme Court Of India,it has categorically stated that the operating surgeons should obtain the consent of the patient before doing any kind of surgery for them and the patient must also be informed the nature of the treatment proposed to be given to the patient,need of the surgery, the type of surgery etc.
Generally doctors do not inform the patients about the nature of treatment proposed to be given by them to a patient and the doctors are hitherto are of the opinion that the patients they treat won’t understand the nature of treatment to be given to them.Hence patients have actually become the victims of kidney thefts in the course of a surgery without the knowledge of the patients.
In New Delhi,a complainant namely Sameera Kohli,aged 44,had preferred a complaint in the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission,New Delhi,stating that a doctor namely Praba Manjantha had removed her uterus,overies,fallopian tubes etc were removed from her body without her knowledge and the complaint was dismissed by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, against which she preferred an appeal in the Supreme Court of India.
Judges P.N.Agarval,Navlekar and R.V.Raveendran,delivering their land-mark judgement on the appeal,have stated that the doctors should obtain the consent of the concerned patient before doing any surgery to the patient and the consent should be obtained from the patient when he or she is hale and healthy and the consent should have been obtained in a free and fair manner.And the consent should be obtained only on the mode of treatment proposed to be given to the patient.And without obtaining the patient’s consent the doctor should not even touch or remove any of his or her organ.The doctors should also briefly explain the risk involved,if any, in a surgery.
The consent given for the general check up of a patient should not be utilised for the surgery of a patient.And the doctors should not deviate from the nature of treatment given to a patient other than the one explained to him or her and for which consent was obtained.
In the relevant case cited above since the doctor who performed surgery to the complainant Sameera had not obtained her consent.Hence the doctor sufferred from deficiency of service as against the complainant.Therefore, the order of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission was set aside and the appeal was allowed.
The above said ruling is important and far-reaching since it not only protects the right of the consumer but also paves a way for preventing the organ thefts by the doctors and medical hospitals, besides ensuring a careful treatment towards the concerned patient.
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