Negligence In Criminal Law

YES! People make mistakes,its called being human.Men are given the nature of human,because there is a reason god is called the almighty.Since no man is perfect in this world ,it is evident that a person who is skilled and has knowledge over a particular subject can also commit mistakes during his practice.
It is very difficult to define negligence;however,the concept has been accepted in jurisprudence . Negligence by doctors has to be determined by the judges who are not trained in medical science.They rely on experts’ opinion and decide on the basis of basic principles of reasonableness and prudence.This brings into a lot of subjectivity into the decision and the effort is to reduce it and have certain objective criteria .This may sound simple

Every act of negligence by the doctor shall not attract punishment .Slight neglect will surely not be punishable and ordinary neglect,as the name suggests,is also not punished.If we club these two,we get two categories:negligence for which the doctor shall be liable and that negligence for which the doctor shall not be liable. The liability of the doctor shall be civil or criminal or both. One of the essential elements in criminal law is mens rea – the guilty mind or an evil intention. The question arises as to whether in cases of medical negligence – whether slight, ordinary or gross – is there any criminal liability? As mens rea is essential, it is difficult to argue that the doctor had a guilty mind and was negligent intentionally. This has been the main argument in most of the cases in which the decision was to decide about the criminal liability.it is difficult to come to a conclusion as to who’s fault is was,whether it was the doctors fault or the hospital staff’s fault. The law, like medicine, is an inexact science. One cannot predict with certainty an outcome of many cases. It depends on the particular facts and circumstances of the case, and also the personal notions of the Judge concerned who is hearing the case. However, the broad and general legal principles relating to medical negligence need to be

Even after adopting all medical procedures as prescribed, a qualified doctor may commit an error. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and the Supreme Court have held, in several decisions, that a doctor is not liable for negligence or medical deficiency if some wrong is caused in her/ his treatment or in her/ his diagnosis if she/ he has acted in accordance with the practice accepted as proper by a reasonable body of medical professionals skilled in that particular art, though the result may be wrong. In various kinds of medical and surgical treatment, the likelihood of an accident leading to death cannot be ruled out. It is implied that a patient willingly takes such a risk as part of the doctor-patient relationship and the attendant