Open Access Research Article
VICARIOUS LIABILITY IN MEDICAL FIELD (By- Akshita Jha)
Published Paper
Article Details
VICARIOUS
LIABILITY IN MEDICAL FIELD
Authored
By- Akshita Jha
Abstract
Vicarious liability arise in a situation where a
person is responsible for the act of any other person whom he appoints to
lessen his workload.The prominent examples of vicarious liability are the
principal agent relationships and the employee contractor relationships where
there is a delegation go work from the person with a higher authority to a
person with lower authority..In medical terms if we see these situations arise
when there is a negligence on the part of
medical professionals and a question arises as to weather a hospital
should be held liable for the negligent act of their medical professionals, and
how can this medical negligence can impact a society
Key words: Negligence,society,medical,vicrarious
liability
Introduction
There
may be times where on person may appoint some other person to lessen his
workload by delegating or distributing some of the share of the work to the
other person.The person who delegates his or her work to some other person is
known as the master or the employer and he person to whom he delegates his or
her work is the servant or the employee.The person or the boss appointing the
servant or the employee under him becomes directly responsible for the act
which the employed agent or employee commits during the course of
employment.Speaking about the master servant relationship where the master
appoints his servants to delegate the work or for example bring any essential
goods for him, and if the agent fails to do so or commits any negligent act
during the same, then the master will be held liable for the negligent acts of
his servant as that particular negligent act was committed by the agent during
the course of employment.In a employee contractor relationship the contract
employs the servant for a specific period to get a particular task done on a
daily wage basis.,therefore if the employee commits any negligent act while
performing the task given the contract will be held responsible for the samosas
the employee has committed the negligent act during the course of employment,
and as the rule of vicarious liability exists the master or the employer is
liable for the negligent acts of the person appointed by him, so will be the
situation in these cases.(master-servant,employee-contractor).Broadly speaking in
medical field where the negligence of
medical professionals gives rise to a
very important question that should a hospital be held liable for the act of
negligent acts of the medical professionals as most of them are medical interns
employed under some or the other doctors.Many of the staff who commit a medical
negligence are also employed on a short term basis or we can say on a
contractual basis.
Speaking
about the contractual basis, the employees are hired for a specific period and
further they are not liable to the rules
of company or hospital therefore a issue arises as to who will be entitled to
own the responsibility of the act committed by such contractual employers.
Literature Review
ARTICLES
•
First and foremost this
article broadly explains what is a vicarious liability and what are the
conditions under which any party can be held vicariously for the acts of their
servants.
•
Secondly this article talks about the
responsibility of the owners and organisations in the cases where employees are
hired upon on the basis of contractual basis
•
Thirdly the article helps us to
understand for which group of people
should the employer or the contractor owe up the responsibility of their
negligent acts.
•
First and foremost this article helps us
to understand why should a master be held liable for the negligent acts his
servants his servants commits during the course of employment
•
Secondly this article helps us to
understand what should be the penalty or the punishment of the master in the
cases where he himself fails to provide his agent with complete information
which might have led to the commission of the negligent act by the agent which
caused a greater damage to the victim or in simple word if we say proved to be
very costly for the master or the agent
Case Laws
FACTS-The
victim accused the municipal corporation for their negligent management which
further led to victims accident.But the corporation
constantly argued that it was the fault of their employees and that they had
taken adequate precautions regarding the same.
ISSUES-what
are the necessary conditions to prove the liability of the master and claim the
insurance amount
JUDGEMENT-It
was held that to claim the insurance the claim of negligence must be
established and in order to prove the liability of the master in such acts it
must be proved that the agent committed the negligent act during the course of
employment.
FACTS-
Even after several hospital visits and multiple rounds of operation THE PROBLEM
OF victim did not subside but only kept on increasing with each visit.Post a
thorough analysis it was found on that the reason for this pain was a cloth
piece left by the doctor during operating the patient
CRITICAL
ANALYSIS-Medical field is considered to be one of the most
life saving fields as doctors are considered no less than a god. But these days
there are many instances where the doctors
have committed medical negligence by leaving dangerous items in the body parts
in the patients body which further led to more and more complications ,these
instances only lead to loss of trust by the people in the medical
fraternity..Lets take a simple example of covid times where everything was
closed at people were blindly dependent on doctors to save their lives, sadly
in these dreadful times many of the doctors also committed medical negligence
by failing to provide the patient with adequate oxygen and proper medication on
time, which was the primary reason for the shoot in no of deaths during the
different covid waves.The medical fraternity has their own explanation towards
their negligent acts but the sad truth if such kind of medical negligence is
not checked and rectified in time, then a day will definitely come where people
will start loosing trust in the medical fraternity.
Societal Effects
These
medical negligence will only have a negative impact on society as these
,medical negligences will instill a fear in the minds of people and people will
slowly and steadily start losing trust in the medical system.Lets analyse one
more aspect of this medical negligence which is holding the hospitals liable,
the hospitals should be held liable for the acts of the negligence of the
doctors as when hospitals reputation will be at stake then only they will be
more vigilant of such negligent acts and then only the society will be Able to
maintain their trust with the assurance that any medical negligence will be
dealt strictly and the people who commit it won’t be spared.
Website
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Article Information
VICARIOUS LIABILITY IN MEDICAL FIELD (By- Akshita Jha)
Authors: Akshita Jha
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Published 2022/09/17
- Volume 2
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- Abbreviation IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Access Open Access
- License CC 4.0
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