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Under civil and consumer law compensation paid for medical negligence is neither punishment nor reward. The principle on which damages for medical negligence are assessed is that they are to be regarded as compensation for the injury sustained or death and not as punishment for the wrong inflicted. There is no difference in the principles applied to the assessment of damages in a medical negligence case and other actions for personal injuries, e.g., in motor accidents claims.

9. In the case of medical negligence and deficiency in service in treatment of a patient damages are to be quantified under two heads pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages. Under the first head, will be those damages, which can be quantified in terms of money i.e. actual expenditure incurred by the patient complainant in getting the treatment or in the rectification of the deficient treatment, which he received as also for the resultant loss of business, etc. The non-pecuniary damages would be for the physical and mental pain and sufferings of the patient complainant on account of such faulty treatment. In the case in hand, the appellant incurred more than a sum of Rupees One lakh towards the treatment, which he received at the Opposite party hospital and at some other hospital. Not only the complainant had to incur heavy expenditure in rectification of the faulty treatment given by Opposite party Doctor, even his one kidney was ultimately removed, leaving him dependant on one kidney only throughout his remaining life and with a lurking apprehension about the proper functioning of the substituted kidney, God forbidding in case his second kidney develops some problem, his life would be at risk apart from the fact that the complainant himself has suffered immense physical and mental pain and agony due to faculty treatment given by the Opposite party doctor.