restitutio in integrum. The said principle of granting compensation.
The Hon’ble Supreme while holding the surgeon negligent of operating a 15-year-old boy with only 35000 platelets fixed the vicarious liability upon the concerned hospital and awarded compensation to the family by relying upon precedents of the Hon’ble court pertaining to the calculation of compensation.
The Hon’ble court in V. Krishnakumar v. State of Tamil Nadu and Others 6 (2015) 9 SCC 388 had reiterated and upheld that the principle of awarding compensation that can be safely relied on is restitutio in integrum. The said principle provides that a person entitled to damages should, as nearly as possible, get that sum of money which would put him in the same position as he would have been if he had not sustained the wrong. Livingstone v. Rawyards Coal Co (1880) LR 5 AC 25 (HL) case had first postulated the principle of restitutio in integrum in cases of compensation. An application of this principle is that the aggrieved person should get that sum of money, which would put him in the same position if he had not sustained the wrong. It must necessarily result in compensating the aggrieved person for the financial loss suffered due to the event, the pain and suffering undergone and the liability that he/she would have to incur due to the disability caused by the event.
The full text of the recent judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in NAND KISHORE PRASAD …… APPELLANT vs. DR. MOHIB HAMIDI & OTHERS ……RESPONDENTS can be accessed by clicking on the link below
https://www.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2015/40388/40388_2015_Judgement_10-May-2019.pdf