In: Nursing
No greater opportunity,no greater responsibility,no greater obligation can fall to any other human being than to become a medical professional.It is important therefore,that every concerned person of the hospital, related with treatment and care of the patients must understand the nature of obligations and thus fulfill these obligations to the best of their ability,to maintain nobility of the medical profession.Most of doctor, irrespective of his or her speciality,would have been faced certain cases, which at the time or subsequently would be labelled as "medico_legal".
Members of the medical proffession are liable to be called upon to give a medico legal assistance in varied circumstances by the police and law.Like any other witness,the medical proffessional is bound to answer all questions posed to him in the court of law.The law usually requires reliable evidence of facts and authoritative opinion.Thus a doctor has not only to play a vital role in struggling to save the life of the patients or reliving their sufferings but also has to fulfill the required minimum formalities of the medico legal aspects in each case.When the patient reaches in the emergency department,whether it is murdered or accident case,the first duty of the doctor is to identify after carefully analysing the injuries on the patient the history should be taken and then check whether the case falls under MLC or not.If the case is MLC,he must register the case as MLC and intimate the same to the nearest police station either by telephone or writing.An acknowledgement of the receipt of such a message should be properly documented in patient's records.A medico-legal register should be maintained in the casualty of every hospital and details of all medico_legal cases should be entered in the register including the time and date of examination and the name of the doctor who is calling with the case,.This would be an immense help for future reference,when the patient go through court or the police.A case may be registered as MLC even if it is brought several days after the treatment.In current,the medical practice most therapeutic as well as diagnostic procedures involve inherent risks.Itbis the duty of the physician to promote and protect the health of the health with respect to rights and autonomy of the patient.All these formalities are almost same in all hospitals and all these are carried out through nurses hands.A nurse have to obtain complete history from the patient,and inform to the doctor and make sure that the doctor inform to the police station.When it is made as MLC,then record it on the patients case sheet with red ink and the right hand corner and do not give patient's file to police officer or to the public,if needed they collect the information through police.A nurse has to give care to MLC patients as other patients and consider them equally.