Key Points
New Delhi: Doctors will be excluded from criminal prosecution in cases of death due to medical negligence under the new Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita (BNS), 2023..
While replying to a discussion on the three new criminal law bills in Lok Sabha earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the government introducing an amendment in the BNS to exclude doctors from criminal prosecution over such deaths was in keeping with the request made by the Indian Medical Association (IMA)...
If a patients death was caused because of doctors negligence, it also came under the clause of murder committed unintentionally for which we have increased the punishment in the new law to 10 years I am bringing an amendment to the law to free doctors from the ambit of this clause IMA had sent us a memorandum regarding this, Shah told the Lok Sabha...
Absence of mens rea in a case of a medical mishap or accident is too evident to be ignored, IMA wrote to the PM, also urging for a safe and amiable atmosphere for doctors to practice their profession without fear of criminal prosecution...
No police officer should be able to conduct inquiry or investigation into alleged medical negligence offence committed by a qualified and registered medical practitioner without prior opinion of gross negligence specified by an expert committee, as per the recommendations of the NMC (National Medical Commission) to MoHFW (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare), the IMAs letter said, adding that only the statutory bodies such as State Councils/ NMC should be empowered to refer criminal negligence cases to be filed in criminal courts after prima facie finding an element of gross negligence...
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