Court case(2005) 6 SCC 1

A patient admitted to a private ward of a hospital in Ludhiana developed breathing difficulty. The doctors who attended him connected an oxygen cylinder which turned out to be empty; by the time a replacement was found the patient had died. His son lodged an FIR and the doctors were charged under ss. 304A and 34 IPC. The doctors sought quashing, which the High Court refused.

A three-judge bench quashed the proceedings. Lahoti CJ held that negligence in criminal law must be gross or of a very high degree: the mere lack of care that makes a doctor liable in tort is not enough. The Bolam test applies, so a doctor who acts in accordance with a practice accepted by a responsible body of medical opinion is not negligent. A reasonable error of judgment or an accident is not negligence. The Court laid down guidelines: a private complaint against a doctor should not be entertained without a prima facie opinion from a competent doctor; the investigating officer should obtain an independent medical opinion before proceeding; and a doctor should not be arrested in a routine manner.