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Failed Sterlisation and Medical Negligence:the high court in its judgement
stated that,
A doctor does not give a contractual warranty. He/she is not
an insurer against all possible risks. He/she does not provide insurance that
there would be no pregnancy after sterilisation operation. There is a chance of
sterile being turned into fertile even after the operation has been done with
due care and caution. A doctor is not liable in negligence because someone of
greater skill and knowledge would have prescribed different treatment or
“operated in a different way”. He/She has to show only a reasonable standard of
care. He/She cannot be held guilty for error of judgment. Considerable deference
is paid to the practices of the professions (particularly medical profession) as
established by expert evidence and the Court should not attempt to put itself in
the shoes of the surgeon or other professional man.
Issue of Consent:: the landmark case in this
respect is Arun Balakrishnan Iyer and Anr vs.Soni Hospital and Ors
Status of Foetus: In Ms.X vs. Mr. Z and Anr, the Delhi High Court
held that an aborted foetus was not a part of a body of women and allowed the
DNA test of the aborted foetus at the instance of the husband though the
application was opposed by the wife and she had stated that it would be the
invasion of her privacy to carry out the DNA test on the aborted foetus.
Misuse of Medical Technology:
a) For effective implementation of the PNDT Act, information should be published
by way of advertisements as well as on electronic media. This process should be
continued till there is awareness in public that there should not be any
discrimination between male and female child.
b) Quarterly reports by the appropriate authority, which are submitted to the
Supervisory Board should be consolidated and published annually for information
of the public at large.
c) Appropriate authorities shall maintain the records of all the meetings of the
Advisory
Committees.
d) The National Monitoring and Inspection Committee constituted by the Central
Government for conducting periodic inspection shall continue to function till
the Act is effectively implemented. The reports of this Committee be placed
before the Central Supervisory Board and State Supervisory Board for any further
action.
e) As provided under Rule 17(3), public would have access to the records
maintained by different bodies constituted under the Act.
f) Central Supervisory Board would ensure that the following States appoint the
State Supervisory Board as per the requirement of Section 16A. 1. Delhi 2.
Himachal Pradesh 3. Tamil Nadu 4. Tripura 5. Uttar Pradesh.
g) As per requirement of Section 17(3)(a), the Central Supervisory Board would
ensure that the following States appoint the multi-member appropriate
authorities: 1. Jharkhand 2. Maharashtra 3. Tripura 4. Tamil Nadu 5. Uttar
Pradesh
It will be open to the parties to approach this Court in case of any
difficulty in implementing the aforesaid directions.
Failure of Vasecotmy and Medical Negligence:
Drawing upon best practices from the state affidavits, the Court directed all
states to take the following steps:
(1) Establish an approved panel of doctors to carry out sterilizations in
accordance with
uniform qualification criteria to be laid down by the central government;
(2) Prepare and circulate a checklist of patient data that every doctor must
complete before conducting a sterilization procedure;
(3) circulate uniform copies of a patient consent form, based on the model used
by the State of Uttar Pradesh;
(4) set up a quality assurance committee to issue biannual reports;
(5) maintain overall statistics about sterilization procedures and resulting
deaths;
(6) Hold an inquiry and take punitive action in every case where the
Sterilization Guidelines are breached; and
(7) Bring into effect an insurance policy, based on the model followed by the
State of Tamil Nadu
Clinical Research and Trials:
‘Indian women could not be used as guinea pigs...’’stated Justice A.S. Anand,
when he pronounced his judgement banning the use and sale of Quinacrine for
female sterilisation, was only reiterating a basic article of human rights. | 