Attitude and knowledge of Medical Negligence among General Population attended Out Patient Department at Civil Hospital associated B. J. Medical College, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Abstract

Negligence is defined as doing something which reasonably competent people not suppose to do or not doing something which reasonably competent persons suppose to do. Present cross sectional study was undertaken with aim to assess knowledge and awareness of general population visiting Out Patient Departments (OPD) of Civil Hospital associated B. J. Medical College, Ahmedabad towards medical negligence and legal proceeding regarding medical negligence. Total 350 people from general population were subjected to pre-tested and pre-validated questionnaire related to medical negligence after obtaining their informed written consent. Questionnaire contain 16 questions related to medical negligence and legal proceeding regarding medical negligence with responses based on Likert’s scale varied from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Responses obtained were tabulated in MS Excel sheet and analyzed via SPSS software. Out of 350 participants, 32.8% were between 31-40 years age group, 64% were male. Total 54% were agreed upon that failure to maintain a medical record by hospital is negligence. 65% were agreed that doctor can be liable for negligence. 67% were agreed upon that performing operation without informed written consent is negligence. 30% were agreed upon that treating a patient without his consent is negligence. 81% were strongly agreed upon that carelessly leaving an instrument in patient’s body after operation is negligence. 49% were strongly agreed upon that refusing to attend patient in emergency is negligence. 57% were strongly agreed upon that death due to negligence is punishable by court. 44% were agreed upon that compensation for negligence can be claimed in consumer court. 53% were agreed about that wrong diagnosis followed by wrong treatment is considered as negligence. 50.5% of participants were agreed upon that postmortem is necessary in case of death due to medical negligence, while 34.8% were disagreed. All participants believed and agreed upon that threaten or attack on a doctor is punishable in court even if doctor is truly negligent. Present study reflected that general population has quite a good knowledge regarding medical negligence which may increase gradually over a period of time due to news papers, internet and other resources but less knowledge about legal proceedings regarding medical negligence. Training programs should be conducted for them to bring true knowledge and awareness regarding medical negligence which indeed helps to them as well as medical professionals.