Why doctors avoid getting involved in medico-legal cases

BHOPAL: Medical examination of victims in sensitive medico-legal cases were being routinely done by inexperienced PG students and several doctors Hindustan Times spoke to said they did this to avoid being called to the court to give evidence at a later stage.

“Senior doctors avoid writing the medical report in sensitive medico-legal cases because invariably when these cases come up in court the defence lawyer cross-examines the doctor who writes the medical report. Doctors consider going to court to give evidence in a case a waste of time, so they make PG students, who cannot refuse the senior doctors, do the work,” a gynaecologist said.

“Ideally, what is being written should be seen by the senior doctors, but they often do not, leading to goof-ups similar to what happened in the gang-rape case” the doctor said.

The admission by superintendent of Bhopal’s Hamidia Zanana Hospital, Dr Karan Pipre that medical examination of victims in sensitive medico-legal cases were being routinely done by inexperienced PG students, was shocking enough. But the two PG students who botched up a medical report of a rape victim now seems to have been a blooper that was waiting to happen.

The two inexperienced PG students were given the task of preparing the medical report in the gang rape case of a 19-year old UPSC aspirant, which they had badly botched up.

Former director, medico-legal institute, Dr D S Badkul says it is ‘ethically wrong’ on part of senior doctors to make PG students write the medical reports in sensitive medico-legal cases.

“A senior gynaecologist should be performing the examination and the PG students should be assisting him. Same is the case when it comes to writing the report. It should be done by the senior doctor.”

Dr Badkul pointed out that there is a 100- page guideline and protocol issued by the Union ministry of health and family welfare that should be followed in “Medico-Legal cases for survivor/victim of sexual violence”.

“But no one follows it,” Dr Badkul said.

Dr Pipre had also told Hindustan Times that from now on only senior doctors would do medical report in serious cases.

He,however, refused to comment on whether senior doctors purposely avoid sensitive cases to stay away from court hearings.