The Supreme Court has come down heavily on hospitals for discharging patients 'against medical advice', warning that such practices risk undermining patient care and may amount to an abdication of medical responsibility.
The court emphasized that the decision to stop medical intervention cannot result in abandonment of the patient, and instead, a carefully structured and medically supervised palliative and end-of-life care plan must be put in place.
The court expressed strong disapproval of the routine hospital practice of issuing 'discharge against medical advice', which is often misused in situations where medical treatment stands discontinued.
