The family of a woman in Nagpur who died in 2000 after a homoeopath prescribed her Baralgan and Dexamethasone that caused fatal anaphylaxis was declared as a case of medical negligence by the NCDRC. A state commission had earlier found the same, even though the homoeopath was acquitted in a criminal prosecution over the woman’s death.

NCDRC: “Thus, without any authority he administered the said injections of allopathic medicines and as [the patient’s] death was caused due to reaction of the said injections, it proves negligence on his part.”

Responding to the homoeopath’s protests that he had previously been acquitted, the NCDRC said “liability for a civil wrong and liability for a criminal offence are different. The objective of criminal law is to punish, the objective of civil law is to compensate, they essentially differ in their context and consequence. The two are not mutually exclusive, but co-extensive.”

In their judgement, the NCDRC ordered the payment of Rs 10 lakh to the victim’s family “with simple interest at twelve percent per annum from the date of arguments before this Commission from October 2018.” The state commission had earlier ordered that compensation of Rs 3 lakh be paid.