PREFACE As all other endeavours, the compulsion behind this work was necessity. While searching for previous cases in Medico-Legal Negligence, I felt, difficulty in isolating and analyzing cases related with the subject, due to the unavailability of another work in the subject. That made me to think about the difficulties confronted by Legal as well as Medical and Hospital professionals to deal with such situations and that necessity made way for this work. Medical Law and related cases are in nascent stage in India, when considering developments in the same subject in other countries. It is mainly because of lack of enacted legislation on this subject in India as the same available in other developed countries and insufficiency of knowledge regarding medical negligence in the society, in general. Meanwhile, the enactment of the Consumer Protection Act and verdicts of the Honourable Supreme Court of India, in the cases of Indian Medical Association  vs. V.P. Shantha & Ors (1996) and Jacob Mathew  vs. State of Punjab (2005), hastened changes more progressively and provided proper direction in this matter. In my opinion, time has come to take appropriate actions to include the subject of Medical Negligence in the curriculum of Medical and Hospital professionals, to enable them to deliver their service without negligence by understanding the realities and to Legal professionals, so as to enrich judicial decisions more justifiable. In my work, even though a small one, I have tried to include various intricacies related with the subject for proper understanding,   viz. PROFESSIONAL NEGLIGENCE, RULE OF LIMITATION, DISCOVERY RULE, NEGLIGENCE - RES IPSA LOQUITUR, FAILURE TO CONVEY INFORMATION, ADDITIONAL TREATMENT WITHOUT CONSENT, EXPERT EVIDENCE, ESIC UNDER CP Act, QUANTUM OF COMPENSATION, HOSPITAL RUN BY THE EMPLOYER, STEROIDS IN TREATMENT, BLOOD TRANSFUSION WITHOUT CONSENT, SCISSORS LEFT BY THE SURGEON, UNAUTHORIZED SURGICAL PROCEDURE, TREATMENT IN ANOTHER STREAM OF MEDICINE, MEDICAL PRACTITIONER IS NOT AN INSURER, DISCLOSURE OF AIDS DIAGNOSIS, etc. in this work. I have gone through decided cases of courts belong to various countries during the period of 1865 – 2012 and included the same in simple language for the understanding of non-legal professionals. I humbly submit this work, with the hope that the society as a whole, especially Medical, Hospital and Legal professionals, will accept this effort as one done for useful purpose. I herewith express my gratitude to the professionals belongs to the National Accreditation Board for the Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH), Dr. M Ramaswamy [Chief Medical Superintendent & Chief Staff Surgeon, Railway Hospital, Chennai (Rtd.)] and my beloved brother, C K Pankajakshan [District Project Officer – ITDP(Rtd.)], for giving inspiration and continuous encouragement in this endeavour. I thank my Personal Secretary, Ms. Anagha M V, for doing data-entry works with patience and care even in the midst of busy work schedule. Further thank my wife and children (Sreelakshmi Siva & Swathin Siva), all of them have been constant source of motivation and also rendered valuable assistance in the monotonous task of proof correction throughout the work. I also thank all others for having taken great pains to publish the work in this elegant form.                                                                                        Adv.C K Sivadasan