Referring patients to another hospital must be done with extra care and caution. Confirming availability of facilities, doctors, etc. has to be done by the referring hospital / doctor before shifting the patient. Needless to say, referring patients to another facility / hospital for personal gain or benefit must not be done at any cost.

While patients and relatives alleging doctors / hospitals is not new, the kind of allegations that are levelled nowadays is reaching to a level of absurdity that is not seen before. This case is an excellent example of the fact.

Congenital abnormalities at times can go undetected in diagnostic procedures, and this fact is accepted by law. Courts are concerned whether proper and accepted protocol was followed or not during such instances and draws an inference accordingly.

Confirming suspicions that are not backed by diagnostic procedures could prove to be problem for doctors and hospitals. However, this is a case where a hospital shared an unconfirmed suspicion and found itself tangled in a case of medical negligence.

It is advisable to record complaints made not only by the patient but also of relatives / attendants. While this is not a thumb rule, not recording such complaints may draw adverse inference from the court, as this case exemplifies.

Certain postoperative complications can turn into emergency situations, and this fact ought to be considered well before admitting a patient. A hospital must also ensure availability of facilities and infrastructure before performing interventions to manage postoperative complications - not doing so amounts to medical negligence.

Postoperative complications are accepted part of medical science. But even then, many practitioners find themselves facing cases of negligence when a mishap occurs due to such complications.