Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation: A Medical Menace

Medical negligence suits are on the rise now-a-days. Doctors, who were considered messengers from the God and worshipped, are met with Civil and Criminal negligence cases, thereby leading them to practice defensive medicine. The expectations among patients for complete and dramatic cure, knowledge about recent advances in medicine and awareness of the general public regarding the legal provisions has increased the stress among medical practitioners. There are instances where even known complications of diseases and physiological conditions (after delivery) have been considered as malpractice outcome by patients and relatives. Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), also known as disseminated intravascular coagulopathy or consumptive coagulopathy, is a pathological activation of coagulation (blood clotting) mechanisms that happens in response to a variety of diseases and physiological condition. The present case is one such case where a known complication turns out to be a Doctor's nightmare and the role of medical expert opinion in such cases.