The Legal Framework on Duty Towards Emergency Patients: Analysis with Proposals for Reforms

10.2478/bjlp-2023-0000016

Abstract

Duty towards patients in an emergency is a task of fundamental importance in any jurisdiction and therefore requires an appropriate legal framework. This legal framework should be directed towards protecting the interests of patients in an emergency while providing safeguards for the health professionals being parties involved in the matter. The present study is a descriptive analysis of duty towards emergency patients while proposing reforms. The results mandate protecting the rights of patients and health care for better outcomes concerning duty towards patients in emergency. Doctors should be protected from legal proceedings in case no gross negligence or dereliction of duty prima facie is made out. The study is general and does not distinguish different fields of medicine, like mental health, etc., for further analysis of their emergency patients. It looks at the duty towards patients in emergency cumulatively from all medical types, like cardiac and burns etc., in emergencies.