Jacob Mathew v. State of Punjab

Supreme Court of India · (2005) 6 SCC 1 · 2005

medical negligence criminal liability gross negligence doctors standard of care

Held: Established that criminal liability for medical negligence requires gross negligence, not mere error of judgment.

Ratio decidendi

Criminal negligence for medical professionals requires a higher standard than ordinary negligence - it must be gross negligence of a very high degree.

Cited by 12 of 48 judgments in this corpus

DR. S. BALAGOPAL v. STATE OF TAMIL NADU & ANR. · 2026 INSC 319
DEEP NURSING HOME AND ANOTHER v. MANMEET SINGH MATTEWAL AND OTHERS · 2025 INSC 1094
CPL ASHISH KUMAR CHAUHAN (RETD.) v. COMMANDING OFFICER & ORS. · 2023 INSC 857
M.A BIVIJI v. SUNITA & ORS. · 2023 INSC 938
MRS. KALYANI RAJAN v. INDRAPRASTHA APOLLO HOSPITAL & ORS. · 2023 INSC 921
HARNEK SINGH & ORS. v. GURMIT SINGH & ORS. · 2022 INSC 583
DR. (MRS.) CHANDA RANI AKHOURI & ORS. v. DR. M.A. METHUSETHUPATHI & ORS. · 2022 INSC 447
BOMBAY HOSPITAL & MEDICAL RESEARCH CENTRE v. ASHA JAISWAL & ORS. · 2021 INSC 801
VINOD DUA v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS. · 2021 INSC 304
MAHARAJA AGRASEN HOSPITAL & ORS. v. MASTER RISHABH SHARMA & ORS. · 2019 INSC 1378
ARUN KUMAR MANGLIK v. CHIRAYU HEALTH AND MEDICARE PRIVATE LTD. & ANR. · 2019 INSC 43
VINOD JAIN v. SANTOKBA DURLABHJI MEMORIAL HOSPITAL & ANR. · 2019 INSC 266

These judgments mention this one. Whether each followed, distinguished or doubted it is not recorded here — read them before relying on any of it.