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Journal of Global Public Health 3(1):p 29-40, January-June 2026. | DOI: N/A
Review Article
Ethics vs. Negligence in Medicine
Shri Gopal Kabra, Vivekanshu Verma
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Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)| This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. |
Journal of Global Public Health 3(1):p 29-40, January-June 2026. | DOI: N/A
How Cite This Article:
Shri Gopal Kabra, Vivekanshu Verma. Ethics vs. Negligence in Medicine. Jr of Glob Pub Hea. 2026; 3(1): 29–40Timeline
Received : March 27, 2026
Accepted : May 19, 2026
Published : June 30, 2026
Abstract
Background: Medical negligence is traditionally adjudicated as a breach of contractual duty under consumer protection and tort law. Medical ethics, however, is the prerogative of professional councils, serving as a moral and disciplinary framework. The overlap between these domains raises questions about whether invoking ethics in negligence adjudication is justified. Objective: To critically examine the relationship between medical ethics and medical negligence, and to debate whether ethical codes should influence legal adjudication of negligence in a transactional, contract-based framework of medical services. Methods: An AI-mediated debate format was employed to analyze conceptual distinctions between ethics and law, the custodial role of medical councils, and the contractual nature of medical consent post-Consumer Protection Act. Comparative reasoning and jurisprudential references were used to highlight overlaps and divergences. Results: Findings suggest that: • Medical negligence is primarily a breach of duty of care under contract law, adjudicated by courts. • Breach of ethics is professional misconduct, adjudicated by medical councils, and does not necessarily involve patient harm. • Ethical codes often serve as benchmarks for defining “reasonable care” in negligence cases, creating overlap. • The shift from fiduciary trust to contractual consent has diluted the moral component of medical practice, but ethics remains essential to preserve professional integrity. Conclusion: While medical negligence and ethical misconduct are distinct, ethics provides the normative standards against which negligence is judged. Invoking ethics in negligence adjudication is not about conflating domains, but about ensuring that contractual medicine does not lose its fiduciary essence. Courts and councils thus operate in parallel, with ethics guiding standards and law enforcing liability.
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There are no additional data available. All raw data and code are available upon request.
Funding
This research received no funding.
Author Contributions
All authors contributed significantly to the work and approve its publication.
Ethics Declaration
This article does not involve any human or animal subjects, and therefore does not require ethics approval.
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our gratitude to the patients, their families, and all those who have contributed to this study.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.
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Cite this article
Shri Gopal Kabra, Vivekanshu Verma. Ethics vs. Negligence in Medicine. Jr of Glob Pub Hea. 2026; 3(1): 29–40
Licence:
Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)| This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. |
| Received | Accepted | Published |
|---|---|---|
| March 27, 2026 | May 19, 2026 | June 30, 2026 |
DOI: N/A
Keywords
Medical negligenceProfessional misconductDuty of careNational Medical Commission (NMC)Law and ethics interfaceProfessional accountabilityConsumer Protection Act (CPA)Contractual consentFiduciary trustArticle Level Metrics
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Timeline
| Received | March 27, 2026 |
| Accepted | May 19, 2026 |
| Published | June 30, 2026 |
licence
Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
| This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. |
