Unit 8: Medical Negligence and Remedies
8.1 Medical Negligence versus Medical Malpractice
The negligence (the tort’s face — the LAW5505-U1.4’s medical application): the duty (the doctor-patient relation’s creation: the consultation’s contract-and-fiduciary duty); the breach (the care’s standard — the reasonable-competent-practitioner test: the specialty’s level, the resources’ context (the developing-country’s realities), the emergency’s latitude); the causation (the breach-and-harm’s link — the “but-for” and the loss-of-chance debates); the damage (the injury’s heads). The malpractice’s broader umbrella: the negligence + the intentional wrongs (the assault-without-consent; the battery’s old face) + the statutory-and-ethical breaches (the standards’-and-code’s violations) — the malpractice as the professional-wrong’s genus.
8.2 Criminal Medical Negligence versus Civil Medical Negligence
The line’s classic (the exam’s favourite): the civil (the compensation — the care’s falling-below: the mere error-and-lapse); the criminal (the punishment — the gross-negligence’s recklessness: the “so bad it’s criminal” — the conscious-disregard-and-the-egregious departure (the famous Indian line’s “rash-and-negligent” discipline — the Criminal Code’s counterpart provisions; the death-by-negligence’s faces)); the policy’s balance: the medicine’s chilling (the defensive-medicine’s risk — the criminal’s overuse); the accountability’s demand (the patient’s protection); the Bolam-to-Montgomery evolution (the standard’s move: the professional-practice’s acceptance → the patient’s-material-information — the consent’s modern doctrine: the risks’ disclosure duty).
8.3 Breach of Medical Ethics and Legal Remedies for Medical Negligence in Nepal
- The ethics’ code: the Nepal Medical Council’s code (the registration’s condition — the ethics’ disciplinary force); the breaches’ catalogue (the confidentiality’s violation; the advertising’s excess; the fee’s abuse; the incompetence; the sexual misconduct — the patient’s exploitation); the Council’s disciplinary powers (the warning-to-deregistration’s ladder — the licence’s life).
- The remedies’ menu (the Nepal frame):
– The Council’s complaint (the professional route — the disciplinary).
– The civil suit
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