Booked for murder, Rajasthan doctor dies by suicide, leaves note: 'Stop harassing doctors'

Criminalizing medicine is a GLOBAL pandemic that is tearing the noble practice apart. Healthcare workers are an endangered profession and the public will only know this when it effects them directly. Try finding a private obstetrician in Mpumalanga. #sciencemustjudge1st

Booked for murder, Rajasthan doctor dies by suicide, leaves note: 'Stop harassing doctors'

A doctor in Rajasthan's Dausa district, who was booked for the "murder" of a pregnant woman, died by suicide on Tuesday. In her suicide note, she appealed to people to "stop harassing doctors..."

"I did not commit any mistake, did not kill anyone. PPH is a known complication. Stop harassing doctors so much for this."

The Lalsot police, allegedly under political pressure, registered an FIR against Dr Archana Sharma under 302 of the IPC. This reportedly forced Dr Sharma to take the extreme step.

On Wednesday, officer in-charge of the Lalsot police station in Dausa, Ankit Chaudhary, was placed under suspension in connection with the Dr Archana Sharma suicide case.

“Using the criminal legal process to assess accountability relating to medical “error”/negligence is flawed.

Every case when appealed or reviewed by neutral legal councils and medical experts found that criminal law failed to account for the complex Nature around medical errors- it is often not just the service providers “fault” but also the failure of the system they work in.

The reports often concluded that the criminal process was started by a third party (often bowing to third party pressure) to find a “scapegoat” rather than the answers. It failed to get answers for the patients or their family as much as it failed in fairly judging all those involved in the errors.

The criminal law process falters to understand the science/medicine and the science/medicine falters to fit into the realms of legal criminal logic especially when it comes to applying criminal processes to judge accountability and the intent to kill.

This is why many doctors, lawyers and patient organisations are advocating against using criminal law to Judge accountability as a primary tool, but rather as a final tool after the scientific enquiry is competed.

The science and medicine must be judged and reviewed fully looking at every aspect of the error.
Once that is completed then a criminal process must follow if the evidence suggests that.

The independent review articles (attached) around Dr Bawa-Garba case in the uk highlight the flaws around using criminal court to judge accountability.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/92643598408/permalink/10157191974463409/

The recent appeal case surrounding Dr Van de Walt’s criminal (in Mpumalanga) case locally found similar flaws.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/92643598408/permalink/10158881116498409/

The recent criminal case around Nurse Rhoda’s case in the US is under significant scrutiny after political issues have been highlighted.”

https://www.facebook.com/groups/92643598408/permalink/10159095581728409/