HYDERABAD: The absence of a medico-legal code is leading to horrifying practices being adopted by doctors dealing with such cases. Express has found that non-surgical equipment like stones, hammers and chisels are being used to break open skulls during Postmortem Examinations (PMEs) which can lead to inaccurate reports that may complicate criminal cases.
Express has secured photographs of the stone, non-surgical hammer and chisel used for PME at one such government hospital. Senior professors in forensic medicine departments at government hospitals, on the condition of anonymity, have also affirmed that they were a witness to such incidents at District and Area Hospitals.
This is just the tip of an iceberg of errors, as experts say many erroneous methods are used while handling medico-legal cases. For instance, there have been several cases where samples collected from a living or dead person is stored in any plastic jar that the doctors get hold of without the sterility of the jar being ascertained. Sometimes, postmortems itself get delayed by two to three days. A case in point was the news of assistant professor of Forensic Medicine at MGM Hospital Dr Raza Mallik being suspended as he delayed the postmortem examination demanding a bribe.
To put an end to this, doctors of forensic medicine have been reiterating the immediate need for a medico-legal code in the State. This, they say, will fix all lapses and put an end to these horrifying practices. The code will also mandate video recording of the PME and will help in cases of exhumations by ensuring that procedure is completed within the stipulated time.
“When a stone is used to break open skull during autopsy, it might lead to postmortem artefact like induced fractures in the skull. It becomes difficult to know if skull was fractured before or after death. Also, for instance, if we are examining a bullet injury in skull, the artefact will make it difficult to track trajectory of bullet through the skull,” say sources. While the issue points to lack of infrastructure at periphery hospitals, forensic science doctors say that having a medico legal code will be a major step towards resolving the issue.
What is a Medico-Legal Code?
The code prescribes standards and methods that need to be followed to conduct medico-legal examinations like PME, age certification, examination of survivors of sexual offences and wound certification. It also specifies the infrastructure and staff requirement
Recently, an associate professor of Forensic Medicine from Osmania Medical College, Dr R Sudha, published a review research paper titled ‘Need for a National Code of Ethical and Scientific Autopsy Practice’ in Journal of Indian Academy of Forensic Medicine
The paper, discussing the topic ‘Why should we have a Medico-legal Code?’ stated that “it prescribes guidelines with respect to uniform and universal standards of evidence collection, storage, transport and submission to appropriate for further examination”
While it is Forensic Medicine doctors who perform the postmortems at tertiary hospitals, the procedure is conducted by MBBS doctors and non-forensic specialists in District and Area Hospitals. Sometimes, even gynaecologist does the procedure, say sources adding that they are not trained to conduct the procedures. In the review research paper, Dr R Sudha stated that code serves as a guide for every Registered Medical Practitioner to perform his legal obligations towards living and dead regardless of the fact whether the practitioner is trained in medical legal work or not.
Besides, Telangana government is also under the process of recruiting 68 Forensic Doctors for Telangana Vaidya Vidhana Parishad (TVVP) hospitals which includes District and Area Hospitals. When commissioner of TVVP, Dr B Shiva Prasad was informed that unscientific methods were adopted at one of the TVVP hospital, he said equipment would be provided too.
Hyderabad was once hub of Forensic Science
Senior Forensic Medicine professors from government hospitals say that way back in 1960 and 1970s Hyderabad was leading hub in Forensic Medicine and under Dr I Bhooshan Rao, who was a luminary in the field and founder president of Indian Academy of Forensic Medicine (IAFM), Forensic Medicine flourished here. The professors said that if the lost glory has to be regained, one of the steps that has to be taken is introducing medico legal code.
“It is not that we don’t have potential. We are not given the opportunity to work, to conduct research. During conferences, we feel left out. We need state of art infrastructure, technical staff to work efficiently,” a senior Forensic Medicine professor said on condition of anonymity. Some of the States which have a Medico Legal Code are Kerala and Haryana. The doctors said it is about time Telangana too adopts a code which will resolve issues which arise during medico legal examinations.