PRAYAGRAJ, July 27 -- Observing that private hospitals and nursing homes were treating patients like "guinea pigs/ATMs" so as to extort money out of them, the Allahabad high court has dismissed a plea filed by a doctor seeking the quashing of a 2008 case initiated against him in connection with the death of a foetus allegedly due to delay in surgery. The bench of Justice Prashant Kumar said that it has become a common practice for the hospitals to entice patients and call for the relevant doctor later. "It is a common practice these days that private nursing homes/hospitals tend to entice patients for treatment even though they do not have doctors or infrastructure.It is common knowledge that private hospitals/nursing homes have started treating patients as guinea pigs/ATM machines only to extort money out of them," the court observed. An FIR was lodged against the doctor in Deoria on July 29, 2007. The complaint alleged that the pregnant wife of his younger brother was admitted to the nursing home run by the applicant. It was alleged that there was a five-hour delay in performing the operation by the applicant, by which time the foetus had died. When an objection was raised by the family members of the patient, they were allegedly beaten up by the employees of the applicant and his associates. During the course of the hearing, the counsel for the applicant argued that the applicant had the requisite medical qualification for the treatment of the patient. It was also contended that, as per the report submitted by the medical board, no such medical negligence had been proved against the applicant in providing the treatment to the alleged victim. On the other hand, the counsel for the complainant and the state government counsel opposed the plea, stating that the patient was in a stable condition at the time of admission, yet the surgery was delayed as the applicant lacked an anaesthetist in his nursing home. However, the Court in its judgment dated July 24 made it clear that the observation made in this judgment would not come in the way of the trial, which would proceed independently without taking the findings of this court into consideration....