Areas of expertise
Matters we advise on
Medical law touches a doctor at every stage of practice and a patient at the moments when care goes wrong. These are the principal areas on which Dr. Kantikar advises on both sides of the table.
Consumer cases
Medical negligence falls under the definition of a "deficiency in service" and is fully covered under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. Pecuniary jurisdiction is determined strictly by the amount paid as consideration (fees) for the service, rather than the total compensation claimed in damages.
Complaints can be filed online through the E-Daakhil portal for faster processing, and the Act encourages resolving disputes early through the attached mediation cells before proceeding with adversarial litigation.
A consumer complaint must be filed within 2 years from the date the cause of action or injury occurred. The complainant must prove a direct breach of the duty of care, typically evaluated using standard medical benchmarks such as the Bolam or Bolitho tests.
Dr. Kantikar advises both complainants and the doctors, hospitals, and clinics who answer a complaint. See the notes on the Consumer Protection Act 2019 and which Commission to file in.
Discuss a consumer medical complaint
Medical negligence
Indian courts apply the Bolam Test (Bolam v. Friern Hospital Management Committee, 1957): a doctor is not negligent if they acted in line with a practice accepted by a responsible body of medical opinion. The “4 D’s” (Duty, Dereliction, Direct Causation, Damages) frame the analysis.
A poor outcome, a recognised complication, or a difference of expert opinion is not enough on its own. The complainant must show, on balance of probability, that the harm was unexpected and unrelated to the original condition. Once that initial burden is met, the burden shifts to the doctor to explain what happened (Savita Garg v. National Heart Institute, 2004).
Consent, clinical and surgical notes, and who actually operated often decide the case before the medicine does. The same test applies whether you are bringing a negligence claim or answering one. See also the note on no cure is not negligence.
Discuss a negligence matter
Injury from treatment
Harm after surgery, labour, injection, or delayed diagnosis is assessed as a medical-legal story, not as a motor-accident or workplace injury file. The questions are what was done, what should have been done, and whether the injury would have occurred anyway.
Bills, operative notes, and a dated chronology matter more than photographs of scars at the first meeting.
Discuss an injury from treatment
IVF and ART
These disputes turn on identity of gametes or embryos, counselling, consent, and laboratory chain of custody. A mix-up is not the same as an unsuccessful cycle. Clinic registration and ART rules sit beside the clinical note.
Bring consent forms and any genetic or lab reports. See identity of IVF samples.
Discuss an IVF or ART matter
Expert opinion
A written medico-legal opinion for a court, a commission, or instructing counsel: what the records show, where the standard of care is, and what they do not show. This is not a second clinical consultation for treatment.
Pathology and diagnostic files are read as a pathologist would read them, then as a lawyer would put them to a bench.
Request an expert opinion
PCPNDT
The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act covers registration, Form F records, and the prohibition on sex determination and disclosure. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 (amended 2021) governs when a pregnancy may lawfully be terminated. Where both an unlawful termination and prior sex determination are alleged, the case involves both statutes.
Advisory work covers clinic compliance, the defence of alleged violations, and the distinct liability of sonologists, treating doctors, and family members. See the guide to PCPNDT and the MTP Act.
Discuss a PCPNDT matter
Health insurance
Repudiation, hidden sub-limits, and “pre-existing disease” arguments are often consumer cases. The policy, the proposal form, and the hospital bill have to be read together. See health insurance as a consumer dispute.
Discuss a claim denial
Mediation
Some hospital-patient conflicts settle if both sides can hear a plain account of the medicine and the legal risk. Mediation is not a substitute for a commission case where records are missing or the injury is ongoing.
Ask about mediation
Clinical establishment
Licensing, staffing norms, and the Clinical Establishments Act (where it applies) are compliance questions for hospitals and labs, not patient compensation claims. They often sit next to PCPNDT or pathology-lab issues.
Discuss establishment compliance