Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal issues:Doctors should avoid special efforts to “cover up” any medical fact

The media and general public are vastly becoming informed and law conscious. There is awareness of modern diagnostic/therapeutic methods. The standard of doctors/hospital, its opinion and method of medical/surgical interventions are being scrutinized from time to time in public as well as Court of law and media. The doctor should not avoid talking to the media but definitely not too much and too soon.. Prejudicial and sensational statements should not be made by doctor prior to trial. It is incumbent upon doctors to have good knowledge of the law governing their profession, in order not to transgress the law.

• Doctors should totally avoid special efforts to “cover up” alleged medical negligence or unintentional wrong doing or inevitable medical accident.

• It is a standard accepted universal fact that “Medicine is not mathematics but is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability. One thing that makes medicine so difficult is that there is no such thing as the average man can understand the intricacies. We can only say the reading is ‘within the range of normal’. Medicine is a biological science with the variability inherent in body physiology with the variability inherent in biological matters.

• Forensic medicine is not an exact science as a mathematical calculation hence while making a forensic opinion it is required to deliberate that unexpected results are produced due to biological variations in case to case, there is an element of uncertainty and absolute proof is a rarity in any medical care delivery.

• Doctors should bear in mind the essential difference between probability and proof. They should be reasonable in their opinions and should not overstate the likelihood of a relationship between cause and effect.

• The doctor should be ready to defend every finding and conclusion on the report on clinical and scientific grounds in the court of law. He should be aware of professional and scientific viewpoints which might differ from his, and should be familiar with the latest scientific literature in relation to the subject involved.

• The doctor in the Court of law may clarifying his testimony by means of photographs, maps, diagrams, charts, X-rays, skeletons, models, slides, films, tapes, etc., when they are properly verified.

(Contributed by Dr Sudhir Gupta)