=SORRY- BUT WE ARE NOT SORRY,WE ARE DOCTORS= So what else is new?In Chandigarh the farcical inquiry conducted by the PGI blames overcrowding as the cause for the death of a young girl and in Jalandar in another shocking incident, a newborn girl child dies at a government hospital after doctors removed her from the incubator because her parents could not pay Rs 200. Who is to blame?'No se culpe a nadie'-No one is to blame! In both the cases, inquries will be done by those who themselves are to be blamed, sympathetic noises will be made by concerned ministers, and some junior non-medical staff will be temporarily suspended till the Nation is once again traumatised by seeing ward boys performing surgical procedures.Should not the doctors and health officials be held accountable and taken to task? Should not the Hammurabian Code be invoked? Should not the victim now demand an eye for an eye, a limb for a limb and his kin, a life for a life? Failure to act in accordance with the standards of reasonably competent medical men forms the basis for gauging medical negligence. And if gross negligence and'chalta hai' attitude is apparent to the public,should we the people not assert our right for judicial retribution? Should not the principle of'Nemo iudex in causa sua'( No one is a judge in his own case) be invoked so that doctors know that they are professionally accountable( and this liability can be Tortous,Criminal or Contractual). The patient has to be compensated for the loss of injury suffered by him if the doctor is found negligent and a doctor should be alert to the hazard and risk in all professional tasks he undertakes. Society demands reasonable competence, attention, care and upto date professional knowledge from the doctor. In the present day and age, the general public enjoys a state of heightened awareness and expects the best possible service from the medical profession. A doctor can no longer go unnoticed for any minor slip made by him. A doctor should be able to justify every single decision taken by him and every act of commission or omission attributed to him in terms of admission, consultations, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation of a patient etc. Thus, medical professionals should be accountable or liable for their professional acts; hence the term professional accountability.It is un-nerving to know that The Indian Medical Association had campaigned unsuccessfully against the inclusion of medical services under the Consumer Protection Act. In stark contrast are the examples of Spain where a patients' association is planning to publish on its website a list of doctors who have been found guilty of negligence and the United States where a bill would give the public access to a database for each doctor providing information on malpractice suits and various other offences . Much more needs to be done in the realm of health care, medical ethics and accountability as far as doctors are concerned .In-spite of all amenities at the disposal of health authorities, its a matter of concern that resources do not reach the supposedly needy & ailing. Max Weber, an acclaimed sociologist during the early twentieth century, stated that the primary purpose of law is to regulate the flow of human interaction . Weber, who is famous for a number of modern day concepts including the concept of bureaucracy, believed that laws make the behavior of others predictable . Thus, one of the accepted purposes of law and codified rules is to support social order there-by banishing private retribution, deterring similar lapses and punishing offenders.There are no codified rules and regulations for doctors and pharmaceutical companies in India and there-in lies the bane of all that is wrong in this profession. The Code of Hammurabi is considered one of the first known attempts to establish a written code of conduct.King Hammurabi of Babylon incorporated these managed care precepts in the Codex Hammurabi, a huge stone erected about 1700 B.C. Hammurabi believed that the gods had appointed him to bring justice and order to his people. Not long after his ascent to power, he created his Code written to define all relationships and aspects of life in the kingdom. The laws were displayed in a public place so that all the people could have the opportunity to study them. The laws applied to everyone, though application of the laws and punishment differed according to social class. The punishments for disobeying the laws were swift and harsh, further encouraging compliance. The Code established rules regarding theft, sexual relationships, interpersonal violence, and other issues. It was intended to replace blood feuds with a system sanctioned by the state.The edicts in Hammurabi's Codex left no margin for error: Health care providers had to be flawless or lucky.Penalties included burning, drowning, hanging, impalement on a stake, bodily mutilation and monetary fines. If a physician operated on a man for a severe wound with a bronze lancet and caused the man's death, or opened an abscess in the eye of a man with a bronze lancet and destroyed the man's eye-they shall cut off his fingers.If a physician operated on the slave of a freeman for a severe wound with a bronze lancet and cause his death, he shall restore a slave of equal value. If he open an abscess in his eye with a bronze lancet, and destroyed his eye, he shall pay silver to the extent of one-half his price(average prices for male slaves ranged from 16-30 shekels). When prescribing the incentives given to doctors, Hammurabi made assumptions about how much money it would take to encourage doctors to practice medicine . Hammurabi also assumed that the punishment he prescribed will be enough to deter crime and prevent repeat offenders . Hammurabi specified the harshest form of de-selection possible. If the physician erred through omission or commission, his finge
