Observing that nobody is above the law, including doctors who take the “Hippocratic oath”, the Kerala High Court refused to interfere with an expert panel’s report that suggested two doctors were guilty of gross medical negligence in the death of a 10-year-old girl in 2010. As part of the investigation, the matter was referred to the state’s two-tier expert panel constituted to examine complaints against doctors from a medico-legal perspective. In its latest report, the panel expressed an opinion that the doctors had been grossly negligent, prompting the doctors to challenge the report before the Kerala High Court. ‘Didn’t question panel’s composition earlier’The court clarified that the expert panel’s report is only a piece of expert evidence and not a finding of guilt. ArgumentsRepresenting the two doctors, advocate S Gopakumaran Nair argued that the expert panel had no material to conclude that the doctors were guilty of gross negligence.