The liability of a hospital in cases of medical negligence could be direct or vicarious.

Direct liability in this

sense would mean a deficiency in the services provided by the hospital thus making it unsafe and not suitable
for treatment. Vicarious liability, on the other hand, would refer to the liability of the hospital as an employer for
the negligent acts of its employees.

Some of the conditions under which a hospital is directly liable are:

- Improper maintenance of hospital resulting in an injury to or death of the patient.

- Failure in providing a safe and suitable environment as guaranteed–like when the patient is affected by
malfunctioning equipment, incompetent staff, inadequate accommodation, etc.

- Deceptive or misleading signboards, advertisements, and notices, false claims of availability of certain
facilities which may be seen as a deficiency in services or as unfair trade practices under the Consumer
Protection Act and damages can be awarded for such malpractices.

- Charging for a facility which was not provided, or charging more than what is mentioned in the displayed list
of charges or agreed.

- Testing for HIV and Hepatitis B is either mandatory or voluntary. When testing is legally done without the
consent of the patient, it is known as mandatory testing for instance when screening for blood donors, semen
donors or organ donors. In other cases it is voluntary, and express written consent of the patient is necessary to
respect his/her need to maintain confidentiality.

- Improper maintenance of records of treatment and failure to hand over such records to the patient or his
authorized attendant/legal authorities within 72 hours, which is in violation of the Medical Council of India
Regulations, 2002.