Unit 2 of Law and Medicine (syllabus: Module 2 — consent, informed refusal and therapeutic privilege, medical records and certificates, confidentiality, euthanasia, living wills and do-not-resuscitate decisions, and professional obligations). Below: what the unit covers, the provisions it turns on, and the cases an examiner expects you to name.
What this unit covers
- What makes consent real and valid, and what must the doctor disclose?
- Does consent for a diagnostic procedure cover therapeutic surgery found to be necessary?
- Who may consent for a patient who cannot consent for himself?
- When may a doctor treat without any consent at all?
- What is therapeutic privilege, and how far does it go?
- Why do medical records matter in law, and what must be kept?
- When may a doctor disclose what a patient told him, and does he have any privilege in court?
- Was the doctor right to tell the fiancee that the patient was HIV-positive?
Treat that list as a self-test: recite each topic's rule from memory before you open its cases.
Provisions
- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, s. s. 26
- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, s. s. 28
- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, s. ss. 27 and 28
- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, s. s. 30
- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, s. s. 31
- Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act 2010, s. s. 12(1)
- Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023, s. ss. 132 and 134
Leading cases
- Samira Kohli v Dr. Prabha Manchanda
- Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority
- Canterbury v Spence
- Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity v State of West Bengal; Samira Kohli v Dr. Prabha Manchanda
- Dr. Tokugha Yepthomi v Apollo Hospital Enterprises; X v Y
Full case summaries
- Samira Kohli v Dr. Prabha Manchanda (2008)
- Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug v Union of India (2011)
- Common Cause (A Registered Society) v Union of India (2018)
- Dr. Tokugha Yepthomi v Apollo Hospital Enterprises (1998)
- Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority
- Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee (1957)