General Presumption Of Medical Negligence Can't Be Made About COVID Deaths : Supreme Court

A bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Vikram Nath, and Justice Hima Kohli asked the petitioner to withdraw the petition and approach the competent authorities with his suggestions.

The Court observed that the second wave of the pandemic affected the entire country and a general presumption of medical negligence cannot be made.

According to the Bench, while the petition makes a presumption that all Covid deaths happened due to Medical negligence, the same cannot be done by the courts.

"To assume that each death due to Covid-19 took place due to negligence is too much. Courts cannot have a presumption that all Covid deaths happened due to medical negligence, which your petition does", the Bench orally observed

The Bench referred to the suo moto case taken up by the Top Court for various issues related to the Covid pandemic and stated that the National Task Force which was constituted is looking into different aspects of the pandemic.

The Bench also stated that the Apex Court has issued directions in a separate judgement dated June 30 in relation to ex- gratia compensation to be provided to families of Covid victims.

Advocate Sriram Parakat, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the petition raised a different point relating to deaths caused by negligence and mismanagement.

However, the Bench asked the petitioner to approach the competent authority as the Government is yet to come up with a policy as directed by that verdict.  The bench also noted that many developments have taken place after the petition was filed in May this year.

Through its June 30th verdict, Supreme Court had held that the National Disaster Management Authority has a statutory obligation to frame guidelines for recommending minimum ex-gratia assistance for the victims of COVID pandemic.

While saying that it cannot direct the Union Government to pay a particular amount as compensation, the Court had directed the National Authority to frame guidelines within 6 weeks on providing ex-gratia assistance to COVID victims.

Details Of The Petition:

The petition filed through Advocate Sriram P, Nachiketa Vajpayee and Divyangna Mallik sought the following directions from the Court:

• Direction to the Centre and States to submit a consolidated report regarding the total number of COVID-19 patients who died due to shortage of medical oxygen and/or COVID-19 related medicine and/or lack of healthcare facilities, particularly in the second wave of COVID-19.

• Direct Centre and States to jointly compensate the families of such COVID-19 patients who died due to shortage of medical oxygen and/or COVID-19 related medicine and/or lack of healthcare facilities,

• Direct Union of India to frame a comprehensive National Plan to not only deal will the second wave of COVID-19 but also indicate the preparedness to tackle the possible third wave of COVID-19

• Direct the appropriate authorities to initiate proceedings against the concerned representatives and/or officials of Respondents for committing gross negligence thereby leading to a huge increase in the spread of COVID-19

• Direct Centre and State of Uttarakhand to provide financial and medical assistance for the treatment of all such patients who contracted COVID-19 while attending the Maha Kumbh Mela

• Directions to Provide financial and medical assistance for the treatment of all such patients who contracted COVID-19 while attending the election rallies and participating in the election process conducted in the States of West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry and in the Gram Panchayat election in the State of Uttar Pradesh.

(With Inputs From PTI)

Case Title: Deepak Raj Singh vs Union of India