Vicarious Liability -Legal Aspects in Health Care - Essay Example

It further defines and discusses apparent agency and the impact the status of the agent/employee versus independent contractor have on the analysis of liability. When it comes to criminal prosecution of negligence in the medical field, the law is in no way lenient. Murthy defines negligence as carelessness in a situation where the law mandates one to be careful. A breach of this gives the patient a right to file a case in court. In a case between Poonam Verma and Ashwin Patel in India, the terms negligence, acting in a rash and being reckless were defined.

Negligence was defined as when one excludes or goes against a positive responsibility unintentionally. On the other hand, a reckless person was defined as one who is aware of the results of his or her actions but chooses not to care. Finally, a rash person was described as one who is aware of the results of his or her deeds, but assumes they will not happen. With regard to this, a doctor should not be criminally charged for the death of an individual until there is evidence of negligence or incompetence.

In cases of malpractice, there are two damages provided. One is the compensatory damage where the hospital compensates the patient and the other is the disciplinary or punitive damage where the hospital is punished for the negligence or omissions that led to malpractice. In fact, the Indian Penal Code, section 304(a) reads that any person who causes a patient to depart this life either due to an act of negligence or rash behaviour should serve two years in prison, pay a fine or receive punishment of the two (Murthy, 2007).

In healthcare, a health providing institution can be held liable for any harm done to a patient. According to Donoghue, a hospital can be held liable either directly due to their negligence or vicariously for the negligence of an employee in cases of hospital malpractice. When hiring a member of staff, a hospital has to take great care. The hospital is supposed to