The Doctors have indeed been on edge since 20th July 2020, after the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 came into force. While the Consumer Protection Act, has indeed been a horror-instilling phenomenon in the litigation fearing medicos, the new amendments indeed have brought a new sense of panic with its various features including enhancement of penalty powers with the lower fora and lack of judicial and medical experts involved in place when dealing with the specialized medico-legal cases.
Even the old Consumer Protect Act,1886 passed by the Parliament did not envisage to include the medical profession. The medical profession was only brought under the purview of the Consumer Protection Act in 1994 following a Supreme Court verdict in the V.P.Shanta Vs Indian Medical Association case. Ever since doctors and hospitals came under the purview, there has been a tremendous rise in medical negligence cases. Over the years, the amount of compensation has also seen a steep upward trend, with forums asking doctors and hospitals to pay compensation commonly in the denominations of crores to the extent of 12 crore rs. The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 does not clearly express whether doctors come under the ambit or not? This video discusses this issue in detail