Scribd
Upload
20 views11 pages

Pil Case Presentation

The case of Pt Parmanand Katara vs Union of India established that medical practitioners have an obligation to provide immediate care to injured individuals, regardless of legal formalities or financial constraints. The Supreme Court emphasized the importance of preserving human life under Article 21 of the Constitution and laid down guidelines for handling medico-legal cases. The judgment aimed to ensure that medical professionals prioritize patient care over bureaucratic procedures and legal concerns.

Uploaded by

chandan patil
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
20 views11 pages

Pil Case Presentation

The case of Pt Parmanand Katara vs Union of India established that medical practitioners have an obligation to provide immediate care to injured individuals, regardless of legal formalities or financial constraints. The Supreme Court emphasized the importance of preserving human life under Article 21 of the Constitution and laid down guidelines for handling medico-legal cases. The judgment aimed to ensure that medical professionals prioritize patient care over bureaucratic procedures and legal concerns.

Uploaded by

chandan patil
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 11

Pt PARMANAND KATARA vs UNION OF

INDIA AND OTHERS

(1989) 4 SCC 286

(Before Ranganath Mishra And G.L. Oza, JJ.)


Background of Case

• This case rendered a landmark judgement which laid down guidelines


as to what attitude and obligation ought to be adopted by
medical practitioners in emergency medical situations and not turn do
wn the case on account of financial constraints or fulfilment of other
legal formalities.
Facts of the case

• The petitioner who is a human rights activist filed this writ petition under
Article 32 in public interest on the basis on a newspaper report titled “Law
helps the injured to die” concerning the death of a scooterist who was
knocked down by a speeding car further stating that seeing the profusely
bleeding scooterist, a person on the road took the injured to nearest
hospital, where the doctors refused to attend on him and told that he be
taken to another hospital located some 20 kilometres away which was
authorized to handle medico-legal cases and meanwhile the victim
succumbed to his injuries.
Laws or Rules Involved

• Clause 10 and 13 of the Code of Medical Ethics, which speaks about


“obligations to the sick” and “patient must not be neglected”
• Article 21 of Constitution of India
• Criminal Procedure Code of 1973
Issues

• Firstly, whether there are any legal impediments that hindered timely
treatment in medico-legal cases;
• Secondly, what is the nature of the duty of the Government, the
Government hospital and the police in medico–legal case; and
• Thirdly , whether private hospitals could refuse to treat medico-legal
cases?
Arguments

• It was contended by the Union of India that the prevailing police rules
and Criminal Procedure Code necessitated the fulfilment of several
legal formalities before a victim could be rendered medical aid.
• The rationale behind this complicated procedure was to keep all
evidence intact. And in case the formalities were not observed, the
doctors were harassed by the police and were therefore unwilling to
accept medico-legal cases.
Judgement
Per Ranganathan Misra J.
• Article 21 of the Constitution casts the obligation on the state to preserve life.
There can be no second opinion that preservation of human life is of paramount
importance, this is on account of the fact that once life is lost, the status quo
ante cannot be restored as resurrection is beyond the capacity of man.
• Hon’ble Judge also gave effect to guidelines laid down by high power committee
headed by Director-General of Health Services in 1985 :
1. Whenever any medico-legal case attends the hospital, the medical officer on duty
should inform the duty constable, name, age, sex of the patient and place and time of
occurrence of the incident, and should start the required treatment of the patient. It
will be the duty of the constable on duty to inform the concerned Police Officer.

2. Full medical report should be prepared and given to police, as soon as examination and
treatment of the patient is over. The treatment of patient would not wait for arrival of
the police or completing the legal formalities.
• Hon’ble Judge observed that, It is the obligation of the medical practitioners
whether at a Government hospital or otherwise to attend to the sick and injure
immediately and to make immediate and timely medical care available to every
injured person whether he is injured in an accident or otherwise.
Per Oza, J. ( concurring )
• When a man in a miserable state hanging between life and death reaches the
medical practitioner either in a hospital either run by state or a medical
professional doing private practice should be called upon to provide medical
aid to injured person and save life.
• It is duty coupled with human instinct which needs no decision not any code
of ethics nor rule of law
• Apprehensions that doctor will have to face police interrogation and stand as
witness in court and face all harassments, should not prevent the from
discharging their duty as medical professional to save human life.
• Hon’ble Judge also observed that It is duty on the members of legal profession,
police officials, judges not to harass unnecessarily a member of medical
profession.
Impact of the judgment in the
society
Thank You

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy