A Critical Study of Compensation Policies and Medical Treatment Rights for Road Accident Victims in India

Abstract

In India, the intersection of compensation law and emergent care governance is synergistically critical to the victim of an accident in a road traffic incident. This research attempts to analyze the extent and meticulousness of the participant-rights-based solution of the Indian legal system with respect to the absence of medical treatment and monetary compensation post road traffic incidents. The study adopts a policy-oriented and a doctrinal research approach grounded on Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988, recent landmark judgements of the Supreme Court, and contemporary official statistics on road traffic incidents, treatment, and the pending status of claims. This study concludes that the legal system in India has positively and proactively been transformed beyond the age-old framework of a fault-liability system. The Judicial system, as a doctrine, supports the provision of medical treatment and a system of compensation that is both rational and just and that which considers the catastrophic nature of injury, the future of the victim, the provision for prosthetic devices, and the personal health care insurance benefits which will not be deducted. The study, however, maintains that the system, as a model, is still constructively fragmented, and lacks cashless medical treatment, remedies by a tribunal that are significantly compromised by a huge backlog of claims, and compensation that still does not include the costs of rehabilitation in a sufficient or substantial manner. Overall, Indian law has established a significant majority of the normative constructs justifying post-accident compensation. However, the full realization of these benefits, especially emergency medical compensation, rehabilitation, and a seamless system of compensation, depend on better coordination and a more rational compensation system.