MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE COMPLAINT
Complaint about treatment believed to have been careless, with a request for an inquiry
Date: __________, at __________
__________
To: __________, __________
From: __________, __________ (email __________, telephone __________)
Subject: __________
Sir or Madam,
- 1. The patient. The patient is __________. I am __________. The treatment was by __________.
- 2. The treatment. __________
- 3. What I say went wrong. __________ I state these as facts known to me and I do not claim to give a medical conclusion.
- 4. The result. __________
- 5. Other opinion. __________
- 6. What I have already done. __________
- 7. What I ask. __________ Please also give me, within the time the law allows, complete certified copies of the treatment records, charts, consent forms, test reports and bills, and tell me in writing the name of the officer handling this complaint.
- 8. Keep the records. Please keep all records, films, charts and logs of this treatment safe and do not alter or destroy them.
- 9. My other rights. This complaint is without prejudice to my right to take the matter to the District Consumer Commission, to complain to the medical council, and to report to the police if the facts warrant it. This letter does not waive any of my rights.
ENCLOSURES
__________
LEGAL BASIS
Punjab and Chandigarh: Medical treatment for a fee is a service that the Supreme Court has held falls under consumer law, so a complaint of deficiency in service, which includes negligent treatment, can be made to the District Commission under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 within two years of the cause of action. A complaint of professional misconduct against a doctor can be made to the State Medical Council, or to the National Medical Commission under the law now in force. Negligence causing death may be an offence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and courts have required a credible medical opinion before a doctor is prosecuted for negligence. A hospital must give a patient or the family copies of the treatment records. No fee is payable on this complaint.
PERSONAL DATA NOTICE
This notice is given under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
The purpose of collecting the personal data in this document is to identify the complainant and the patient, record the treatment and the complaint made about it, and let the hospital, the medical council or other body look into it and reply.
The record will be held by __________ and may be shared with the hospital and the doctor named, the medical council or health authority to whom it is sent, an independent expert if one is consulted, the complainant's advocate, and any Commission, court or police authority that hears the matter.
If the matter does not proceed, the personal data will be retained for 90 days and then erased. If the matter proceeds, the record will be retained for the transaction or authority matter plus 12 months, except where a statute requires a longer named retention period.
A person named in this document may request correction or erasure where the purpose has ended, withdraw consent for future consent-based processing, or raise a grievance by writing to __________. The record-holder should acknowledge and reply within 30 days.
Data minimisation: this document does not collect a full Aadhaar number, an Aadhaar-card copy, a password or bank credentials.
Personal-data instruction: __________.
SIGNATURE
______________________________
Signature
Complainant: __________
Place: ____________________
Date: ____________________