Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Problem 5
Problem 5
AHMEDABAD
VIJENDRA
(APPELLANT)
v.
(RESPONDANT)
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS....................................................................... 3
STATEMENT OF JURISDICTION............................................................ 6
STATEMENT OF FACTS........................................................................7-9
QUESTIONS PRESENTED..................................................................... 10
SUMMARY OF PLEADINGS...............................................................11-13
BODY OF PLEADINGS........................................................................14-26
PRAYER ……………………….……..........................................................27
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1. &: And
2. ART.: Article
3. Co.: Corporation
4. Dr.: Doctor
5. Ed.: Edition
6. e.g.: example
8. Hon’ble: Honourable
9. i.e.: that is
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[JUDICIAL DECISIONS]
1. Constitution of India
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SUBMIT THAT THE HON’BLE HIGH COURT HAS JURISDICTION TO DEAL WITH
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Asha a 14 yr. girl lives in Ahmedabad with her mother Abhilasha. Her
father has divorced her mother and Asha has started exhibiting violent
behaviour and delusionary nature of which her neighbours have been
victims of her conduct.
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Asha got the scolding from Abhilasha and when Abhilasha asked Asha
if she was taking her medication, she assured her that she was taking
medicine and Abhilasha did not pursue the matter further.
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1.1 Mother was negligent in not taking care of her schizophrenic daughter
Asha, as without her mother’s knowledge Asha had stopped taking
medication.
1.2 Mother was negligent as their neighbours have been the victims of
Asha’s conduct & then also assured Vijendra that Asha would not
repeat this type of act without taking proper care that Asha does not do
any such act in future.
2.2 Whether Dr. Dang was responsible damage suffered by Vijendra & ruining
his professional career.
3. Whether there was any contributory negligence on the part of Vijendra with
respect to the damage he suffered .
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In this particular case being the mother of a girl suffering from Schizophrenia
and when Vijendra complained about Asha’s act, Abhilasha owed a duty of care
to the plaintiff VIjendra.
And by not properly taking special care of her daughter lead to the breach of
duty which she was expected to do as a reasonable prudent person.
Due to this breach of duty, plaintiff Vijendra suffered damages in terms of
health and money.
So all the three essentials of Negligence have been fulfilled and Abhilasha is
liable for Tort of Negligence.
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Thus Dr. Dang’s omission of informing the appellant about the known risk
makes him lianble for damages
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With respect to the first respondent ,the assurance by the mother regarding
her daughter was given to the appellant hence he had no contribution in
causing himelf the damage also when he jumped and hit the byke , the
reasonable apprehension created by Asha forced him to act proportionately as
a reflex.
Also the appellant trusted the doctor as he was a renowned surgeon and gave
consent to undego the operation unaware of the involved risk to his spine
which the doctor was aware of.
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(3)The breach of duty was legal cause of the damage complained of.
This breach of duty caused damage to plaintiff, as she seriously suffered
in her health in consequence of having drunk a part of the contamined
contents.
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(3)Damage occurred to Vijendra as his spine was badly hurt and he had
to leave his cricketing career. Even he had the monetary loss as he had to
consult doctors and undergo through various tests.
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PROFESSIONAL NEGLIGENCE
In Ramaswamy Iyer’s book ‘THE LAW OF TORTS’’, he throws some light on the
topic of professional negligence . Accordingly .A person who holds himself out
ready to give medical advice and treatment when consulted by a patient owes
him certain duties namely a duty of care in deciding whether to undertake the
case ,a duty of care in deciding what treatment to give or a duty of care in the
administration of that treatment .A breach of any of these duties gives a right of
action for negligence to patient .The doctor no doubt has a discretion in
choosing treatment which he proposes to give to the patient and such discretion
is relatively ample in the in cases of emergency.
A practitioner can only be held liable in this respect if his diagnosis is so palpably
wrong as to prove negligence,that is to say .if his mistake is of such nature as to
imply an absence of reasonable skill in the profession. where a patient suffered
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THE standard of care required of a doctor in the course of his diagnosis and
treatment , namely the exercise of the ordinary skill which a doctor in the
defendant’s position would be expected to posess.[ hills v potter & ors [1983] 3 All ER 716
; SIDWAY v bethlem royal hospital [1984] 1 All ER 1018 ; THAKE & ANOR v Maurice [1984] 2 All ER 513 (
vasectomy- failure to give warning of possible regaining of fertility –a breach of surgeon’s duty of care .
In Chester v. afsher , the claimant patient underwent surgery for removal three
intraverbal discs as a cure for severe back pain . although the claimant has
questioned the surgeon she was not told about the known risk of nerve
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It is humbly submitted that Dr. dang was professionally negligent on his not
informing the appellant about the hazardous risk involved in the operation. The
appellant trusted the respondent2 as in a doctor-patient relationship and also
based on the information given by the doctor the appellant agreed to undergo
the operation.
According to the medical ethics ,although a physician has full liberty to adopt any
of the accepted theories of medicine and surgery in which he
honestly believes in but ordinary and reasonable care and skill should be applied
at all times with all the patients. The question is not the competency of Dr. dang
as a surgeon but it is the criterion of a reasonable man since negligence is also
the omission to do something which a reasonable man, guided upon those
considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs, would do
or doing something which a prudent and reasonable man would not do[ page 242
‘’breach of duty’’ –tort by Winfield and jolowicz].Also ,reasonable varies with
circumstances questioning ;;if the defendant came up to the standard of a
reasonable man’. Dr. Dang was ‘’critical’’ of the research about the new surgical
procedure carrying the risk of damaging the spine. The appellant was already
suffering from severe back injuries and the failed operation
aggravated the injury further thus causing serious damage to this spine. The
appellant was not informed about this risk involved although respondent 2 the
doctor was fully aware about the risk. He brought in his prejudice being ‘critical’
of the recent research thus disregarding it. It was a duty on his part to inform the
patient vijendra about any serious risks involved in the operation so that he could
give a free and fair voluntary consent to undergo the operation and sought
further advice from some more experienced person available so as to recover
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On the above mentioned points the respondents seek to prove that respondent 2
Dr. Dang was professionally negligent in his conduct towards vijendra thus
aggravating his injury further .
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It is humbly submitted that Dr. Dang’s act was jointly responsible for the damage
suffered by vijendra and ruining his professional career. As there was a new
surgical procedure that offered a very good prospect of strengthening his back
sufficiently to enable him to play cricket again. Dr. Dang knew that the recent
research suggested that this surgical procedure had the risk of damaging the
spine but as he was ‘critical’ of this research so he did not tell vijendra about it.
As a patient undergoing a major surgery ,vijendra had the right to be informed
about all the risks involved as it was a important decision for him in the sense that
he will again be able to pursue his interest which was cricket ,he being a gifted
player.
Trusting on his doctor the appellant agreed to undergo the operation without
proper knowledge of the risks involved in the vague idea that he had been pre-
informed about any risk .
The operation was performed carefully but it led to serious damage to the spine
of the appellant .Consequently, he was unable to work even as a software
engineer and suffered considerable pain. If not the appellant had undergone the
operation he would have been working as a software engineer but due to the
breach of duty to take care on the part of the doctor the appellant suffered
damage and lost his job of a software engineer finally the cause rendering him
permanently disabled.
In the light of the above points , the counsel would like to state that Dr. Dang is
responsible to the appellant for damage suffered by him and ruining his
professional career.
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Also when Asha saw vijendra standing near the ice cream parlour she rode as
fast as she could, as clearly mentioned in the facts creating reasonable
apprehension in the mind of the appellant that she may hit him with her bicycle .
The appellant’s reaction of jumping to one side was a reflex action any
reasonable human would take to prevent any harm to him and also Asha’s
previous action has created some doubt in the appellant’s ,mind .
Secondly, coming to the respondent 2 Dr. Dang , although the appellant gave
consent to undergo the operation but he was not aware of the risk to his spine
which was known beforehand to the doctor . He trusted the Doctor as he was a
renowned surgeon of Ahmedabad and thus went by his advice to take the
operation according to the new procedure .
Also after the failure of operation when the appellant’s mother collapsed while
climbing the stairs he did not intentionally do the act of picking her up to damage
his spine thus rendering himself permanently disabled.
It was a inevitable accident which could not have been foreseen and it was
necessity on the part of the appellant since he had no one near to help him pick
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Thus keeping in view the above points, the counsel would like to submit that
there was no contributory negligence on the part of the appellant .
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In the light of the facts stated, arguments advanced, authorities cited the
appellant humbly request the honorable High Court of Gujrat to make
Abhilasha and Dr. Dang liable for the damages suffered by Vijendra
and make him compensate.
May pass order, decree, or judgment in the light of equity, justice and in
good conscience and for this act of kindness of your lordships, the
appellant shall be ever grateful.
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