Poonam Verma v. Ashwin Patel

Citation: (1996) 4 SCC 332

In Poonam Verma vs Ashwin Patel, the Supreme Court differentiated negligence, rashness, and recklessness.

Facts

• Pramod Verma, husband of the appellant, Mrs. Poonam Verma fell ill and complained of fever 
• Ashwin Patel, who was an authorized Homeopathic kept him under mediation and gave him some allopathic medicines for viral fever for two days, but even after these medications the condition of Ashwin Patel didn’t improve so Ashwin Patel shifted the medications from viral fever to Typhoid Fever 
• But even then the condition of the patient deteriorated and so the Respondent asked the appellant to shift him to Sanjeevani Maternity and General Nursing Home under Dr. Rajeev Warty, 
• Later, in the evening he was shifted to Hinduja Hospital in an unconscious state where, after four and a half-hour of admission, he died. 
• The Appellant therefore filed a petition before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, New Delhi.

Decision

In this case, the respondent was a Homeopathic doctor, who prescribed an allopathic medicine to a patient. The patient did not respond to the treatment and subsequently, he died. It was held that the respondent was a homeopathic doctor and was not allowed under the law to prescribe an allopathic medicine. The respondent was held negligible and was ordered to pay compensation to the aggrieved party.

 

Analysis

 

The court in this case identified the difference between negligence and other conducts.  A negligent person is one who unknowingly commits an act of omission and violates a positive duty. In this particular case, the doctor Mr. Patel in the due course of treatment was negligent in his acts by practicing the Allopathic system of medication, though he does not hold any actual locus of practicing the same. Any person who does not know a particular system of medicine but then also practices in that concerned system then he will be held guilty of medical negligence. This is part of the understanding of how the definition of “medical negligence” is argued today.