Private Hospitals Treat Patients as ‘Guinea Pigs, ATM Machines’: Allahabad HC
The Allahabad High Court has observed that private hospitals often treat patients as “guinea pigs” and “ATM machines” to extract money, while dismissing a petition filed by a Deoria-based doctor accused of delaying a caesarean surgery that allegedly led to a stillbirth.
The bench of Justice Prashant Kumar made the remarks while rejecting the plea of Dr. Ashok Kumar Rai of Savitri Nursing Home, Deoria, who sought quashing of criminal proceedings initiated against him under Sections 304A, 315, 323, and 506 of the IPC. Court held that a prima facie case of medical negligence was made out and the matter deserved to proceed to trial.
In July 2007, a woman in an advanced stage of pregnancy was admitted to Savitri Nursing Home, operated by Dr. Rai. Though the family gave consent for surgery around noon on July 29, the operation was conducted at 5:30 PM. By then, the foetus had died. The post-mortem attributed the death to "prolonged labour".
The high court noted that the doctor delayed the procedure due to non-availability of an anaesthetist and failed to justify the four-to-five-hour delay between consent and surgery.
It further observed discrepancies in the doctor's account of the patient's admission time and the existence of two different OT notes, raising serious doubts about the reliability of the hospital records.
The doctor had relied on a Medical Board report that cleared him of negligence. However, the high court pointed out that the board had only considered his version and was not given the post-mortem report or other critical documents.
“The instant case is a classic case...shows malafide intention of the doctor/applicant in cheating the patient,” the court said, adding that doctors who run hospitals without requisite infrastructure or specialists cannot seek protection under the law.
"It is common practice these days that private nursing homes/hospitals tend to entice the patients for treatment even though they do not have the doctors or infrastructure. When the patient is admitted in a private hospital they start calling for the doctor to treat the patient. It is common knowledge that the private hospitals/nursing homes have started treating the patients as guinea pig/ATM machines only to extort money out of them," court observed.
While affirming that medical professionals should be safeguarded against frivolous prosecution, court made it clear that such protection applies only when they act with reasonable care.
The petition was accordingly dismissed, with the court clarifying that the trial would proceed uninfluenced by its observations.
Case Title: Dr. Ashok Kumar Rai vs State of UP and Another
Judgment Date: July 24, 2025
Bench: Justice Prashant Kumar