The cost of clinical negligence claims against the NHS in England rose to £1.259bn ($1.9bn, €1.5bn) in the last financial year, and the number of new cases in 2012-13 climbed by 10.8% to more than 10 000. The year before, in 2011-12, the bill breached £1bn for the first time after a 30% rise in claims the previous year, forcing the UK government to pump in an emergency cash injection. The figur...

Negligence in a sterilisation operation is a crucial issue in a country like India where sterilisation operations form an important part of government programmes. This article seeks to highlight the medico-legal dilemmas that surround this issue, and the legal pronouncements on it. The article also deals with a recent policy initiative--the Family Planning Insurance Scheme--that has been formul...