Understanding Medical Negligence under the Legal Regimes in Bangladesh: Gaps and Ways Forward

Abstract

Right to health and medical services are the basic constitutional rights in Bangladesh which are closely related to right to life of a person. But the scenario of medical negligence is unfortunately increasing in Bangladesh which leads to violation ofconstitutional rights and statutory rights of the people. Though there are couples oflegal forums to address right to medical services and to regulate medical professions in Bangladesh, the legal avenue of Bangladesh is suffering from vibrant vacuum of a comprehensive legislation on medical negligence which would specifically address and prevent this offence in Bangladesh. Besides, the prevalent legal frameworks are insufficient and inadequate to provide effective remedies in case of medical negligence. Therefore, to a large extent,the cases of medical negligence are gone unaddressed without efficacious legal remedies due to absence of specific law on this issue, loopholes of the existing laws and discrepancy between law and practice. Though it is positive sign that the apex court of Bangladesh, time to time, is upholding directives to prevent medical negligence and asking the concerned authority to bring reformation in the laws, the concerned authority is hardly found to comply with the directives upheld by the court.Thus, this study will attempt to examine the prevalent national and international legal frameworks dealing with medical negligence and to critically analyze the gaps and lacunas to address and prevent the offence. In addition to, this study will also critically seek the role of the judiciary of Bangladesh in awarding remedies and upholding directive to prevent it. Apart from highlighting the present scenario of medical negligence in Bangladesh, the underpinning thrust of this paper is also to analyze challenges in confronting medical negligence under the existing legal frameworks as well as this study will also strive to highlight the suggestions for bringing reformation in the prevalent legal frameworks in Bangladesh to effectively prosecute medical negligence offences in Bangladesh.