Justice Ilesh J Vora of the Gujarat High Court underscored the importance of medical professionals understanding the law, particularly those elements specific to their field, during his address at the opening ceremony of MedLawCon-2025 on Sunday. The conference, organised by the GNLU Centre for Healthcare, Ethics, Legal Advocacy and Policy Research (G-HELP), marked the second edition of the event.
Justice Vora highlighted the protections for medical practitioners enshrined in a 2005 Supreme Court ruling, explaining that the judgment clarified the fundamental principles surrounding medical negligence. He pointed out that the law set boundaries for what constitutes negligence in the medical profession, and it was essential for doctors to be aware of this.
“The relationship between patients and doctors is badly eroded today. Since 1960, the Supreme Court has laid down several judgments on the medical profession…you should learn everything that deals with the medical profession and the legal issues that arise from it,” Justice Vora said, stressing the need for legal knowledge in medical practice.
The judge then read an excerpt from the 2005 Jacob Mathew vs State Of Punjab case, presided over by former Chief Justice of India RC Lahoti. He quoted, “A medical practitioner faced with an emergency ordinarily tries his best to redeem the patient out of his suffering. He does not gain anything by acting with negligence…Obviously, therefore, it will be for the complainant to clearly make out a case of negligence before a medical practitioner is charged with or proceeded against criminally.”
Justice Vora further quoted, “A surgeon with shaky hands under fear of legal action cannot perform a successful operation and a quivering physician cannot administer the end-dose of medicine to his patient.”
Reflecting on the judgment, he said, “The gist of the judgment by the SC is that the medical practitioner is not to be held liable simply because things went wrong through chance or error in judgment in choosing one course of treatment. In the practice of medicine, there could be varying approaches…There could be a genuine difference of opinion. However, while adopting the course of treatment, it is on the medical practitioner to make sure the medical protocol is being followed.”
Expanding on the concept of medical protocol, Justice Vora explained, “Maintaining records, transparency, safety towards the patient as are required…If followed by him to the best of his skills and competence of his command in a given case, the doctor would be liable only if his conduct fails to be of the standard of a reasonably competent practitioner in his field.”
He also reassured doctors in the audience, saying, “Everything is settled (in law). So, don’t keep in mind the taboo with regard to prosecution or civil suit. The system has taken care of this and it is all there. Your duty is to give records to a lawyer and explain everything A to Z. That would be the mirror of your treatment required to be placed before the court.”
The event was attended by prominent figures, including Prof (Dr) S Shanthakumar, Director of GNLU; Dr Mehul J Shah, President of the Gujarat State Branch of the Indian Medical Association; and Dr Alexander Thomas, Founder and Patron of the Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI).
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