Medical Malpractice in South Asia

• Published in: Voices in bioethics 2017-10, Vol.3
• Main Author: Kasthuri Nair
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: bioethics; medical malpractice; southeast asia
• ISSN: 2691-4875
• DOI: 10.7916/vib.v3i.6029

This essay won the Voices in Bioethics 2017 Essay Contest Prompt 2: Asian Bioethics. Kasthuri Nair is currently an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University.   “If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.” – Hippocratic Oath Modern Version ("Evolution of Medical Ethics")   “…thou shalt endeavour for the relief of patients with all thy heart and soul. Thou shalt not desert or injure thy patient for the sake of thy life or thy living...” - Charaka Saṃhitā (Menon and Haberman 1970, 295) As the fathers of early and modern medicine respectively, Charaka and Hippocrates symbolize a shift in the history of global medicine from Asian, specifically South Asian, to western thought. As divergent as their methods in medicine may be, it is clear from the oaths delineated above that Charaka and Hippocrates both believe that being a doctor is an awesome responsibility and should be treated as such. Yet medical malpractice is a bioethical issue that is rampant worldwide; however, the manifestation and treatment of the issue varies from region to region. It can be assumed that these discrepancies arise from the differences in philosophies, spirituality and ethics that govern the east and west. In his publication titled “An Introduction to Medical Malpractice in the United States,” Dr. Bal defines medical malpractice as “any act or omission by a physician during treatment of a patient that deviates from accepted norms of practice in the medical community and causes an injury to the patient” (2009, 340). Common medical malpractice claims in the United States include but are not limited to surgical errors, injury from anesthesia, injury during childbirth, failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis, and incorrect prescriptions (Vessels 2017). On the other hand, examples of medical malpractice in South Asia, more specifically India, include unjustifiable prescription of drugs, overtreatment, improper patient education and pandering to drug companies and diagnostic centers in exchange for extra commission (Chatterjee and Srinivasan 2013, 53). Societies as early as Babylon have warned health care professionals of their responsibility to their craft and their patient. According to the Code of Hammurabi, the punishment for medical malpractice is dismemberment (Bal 2009, 339). While doctors today do not phys