Healthcare Law-Dr. Shridul Gupta

Dr. Shridul Gupta’s Healthcare Law covers the fast-developing law of medicine and health — an elective of growing importance as medical litigation and health regulation expand. It develops the doctor-patient relationship and the law of medical negligence (the Bolam and Jacob Mathew standards), informed consent, the treatment of medical services under consumer protection law, and the framework of professional regulation under the National Medical Commission.

The book extends to the contemporary questions the field now turns on — reproductive law (MTP and surrogacy), organ transplantation, end-of-life care and the right to die after Common Cause, mental-health law, clinical trials and drug regulation, and health-data privacy. The 2025 edition reflects current statutes and jurisprudence. A focused text for health-law and medical-jurisprudence electives.

Allahabad Law Agency — 75 years of law publishing. Holographic seal on genuine copies.

Healthcare Law by Dr. Shridul Gupta is a law textbook published by Allahabad Law Agency.

Written with the needs of law students in mind, it explains the principles and provisions of the subject in a systematic and readable manner, making it a dependable companion for coursework and examination preparation.

Key highlights:

• Systematic, student-friendly treatment of the subject
• Suited to the LL.B. syllabus and competitive examinations
• A trusted Allahabad Law Agency title

What’s Inside — Complete Chapter Map (22 Chapters, 4 Units)

Unit I — Medicine and Healthcare (Chapters 1–7): the concept and determinants of health, lifestyle diseases, and health as a constitutional and human right · public health in India and the three Ps of the Sustainable Development Goals · the historical perspective including the three Samhitas of Ayurveda, and a comparison of the Ayurvedic and allopathic systems including their roles during COVID-19 · the role of a welfare State and the case for a quality healthcare law · bioethics, and the distinction between the right to health and the right to healthcare · then the national and international perspective — the WHO and the international instruments, patients’ rights of autonomy and informed consent, protection against illegal clinical trials, Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, public versus private healthcare in India, the eleven great challenges from noncommunicable disease and pandemics to climate change and mental health, the capacity of the legislature, executive and judiciary to make health policy, IPR and access to medicines including India’s role as the world’s generic-drug provider, clinical trials under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and the Clinical Trial Rules 2019, and the National Health Policies of 1983 and 2017 with the National Digital Health Blueprint · the right to health under the Constitution — the Preamble, dignity, Article 21 and the grounds for reading health into it, the Directive Principles, enforcement, the right to emergency medical treatment with the Supreme Court’s rulings, and the HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Act, 2017 · the law on clinical trials with the ICMR ethical guidelines · the fundamental principles — informed consent, bodily autonomy, euthanasia and the living will · and privacy — its evolution from natural law to constitutional law, the right to confidentiality, health-information privacy with the leading cases, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

Unit II — Legal Dimensions and Medical Ethics (Chapters 8–18): the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994 with the authorisation committee case law and the law on blood transfusion · the PCPNDT Act, 1994 — the prohibitions, regulation of genetic clinics and ultrasound machines, offences and the obligations of scan centres, with an analysis of its successes and failures · the International Code of Medical Ethics — duties of physicians in general, to patients and to colleagues · then the professional statutes section by section: the Dentists Act 1948, the Homoeopathy Central Council Act 1973, the Indian Medicine Central Council Act 1970 with the 2020 Amendment Bill and the IMC (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations 2002, the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Act 2020, the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 (misbranded, adulterated and spurious drugs, inspectors and offences), and the Mental Healthcare Act with advance directives and the rights of mentally ill patients · a long chapter on the other statutes regulating health — the Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Act 2020 and the Disaster Management Act in the COVID context, the tobacco and e-cigarette Acts, infant milk substitutes, the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 and the National Food Security Act, the manual scavenging legislation with its committee history, the workers’ health statutes and the four new Labour Codes (Wages 2019, Occupational Safety and Health 2020, Social Security 2020 and Industrial Relations 2020), the environmental statutes, the drugs legislations including NDPS, the Bio-Medical Waste Rules 2016, and the disability legislation · and reproductive rights of women — the MTP Act with the 2021 Amendment, the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act 2021, the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act 2021 and the Maternity Benefit Act.

Unit III — Medical Negligence (Chapter 19): the meaning of medical negligence and how it differs from an error of judgment · res ipsa loquitur · the Bolam, Bolitho and Montgomery tests and how Indian courts apply them, with the shift in judicial attitude · the ingredients and burden of proof · then negligence examined situation by situation — blood transfusion, blood banks, incorrect laboratory reports, surgical procedures, diagnostic error, defective products, deficiency in service, medical termination of pregnancy, sterilisation, removal of the uterus without consent, ambulance delay, medical camps, compulsory vaccination and immunisation programmes.

Unit IV — Remedies (Chapters 20–22): the remedies available to an aggrieved patient under the Consumer Protection Act, contract, tort, public interest litigation, the IT Act and criminal law, with the distinction between civil and criminal medical negligence and the case law on what constitutes criminal negligence · telemedicine and e-pharmacy — the Telemedicine Guidelines 2020 and the draft e-pharmacy rules · and the regulation of the medical profession — the National Medical Commission, the Clinical Establishments Act 2010, employee health insurance benefits, health tourism, the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill, and the balance between private and public interest in life-saving drugs.