Court fines three Doctors for poor handwriting
In three separate cases, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad Court has imposed a fine of Rs. 5000 each on three doctors for illegible handwriting. The accused doctors are Dr PK Goel of Sitapur, Dr TP Jaiswal of Unnao and Dr Ashish Saxena of Gonda.
The injury reports of the victims of three criminal cases that came up for the hearing last week were ‘not readable’ because of the ‘poor’ handwriting. The court bench considered the handwriting of these doctors as an obstruction in the judicial work. The court has summoned the three doctors and asked them to deposit Rs. 5000 penalty in the court’s library. The court, then further directed the principal secretary (home), principal secretary (medical & health) to ensure that in future, medico reports are prepared in ”easy language and legible handwriting”. Also, the court suggested that the reports should be computer-typed.
The bench observed that a clearly given medico-legal report has the power to either support an eyewitness’ account of an incident or to disprove it. The medical reports, as per the bench, however, are furnished in such shabby handwriting which is undecipherable by legal practitioners.
It also added that “The medical reports, however, are written in such shabby handwriting that they are not readable and decipherable by advocates or judges. It is to be considered that the medico-legal reports and post-mortem reports are prepared to assist the persons involved in the dispensation of criminal justice. If such a report is readable by medical practitioners only, it shall not serve the purpose for which it is made.”
The court also cited a circular issued by the Director General Medical and Health, Uttar Pradesh in November 2012 which directs the doctors to issue medico-legal reports in a readable format. Meanwhile, the doctors pleaded that they erred in writing legible prescriptions as they were ‘overburdened’.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/court-fines-doctors-rs-5000-for-poor-handwriting/articleshow/66061795.cms
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