Medical negligence and malpractice litigations in Sri Lanka: why it is a tip of an iceberg?

Abstract

<p>Many have raised their eye brows at the alarming number of medical malpractice, negligence and medical errors that occur daily world over. Despite advances in medicine, cases of medical negligence and malpractice seem unavoidable. Majority of such cases are attributed to personal negligence, recklessness or wilful blindness of the practitioner. Indeed, the development of law especially the common law related to handling emerging challenges arise with medical malpractice seem to curtail the purported damages that can be faced by people in many countries. However, ironically neither the law nor the jurisprudence in Sri Lanka appear to proactively engage in solving issues related to medical negligence and malpractice.</p>