The Essentials Of Forensic Medicine And Toxicology
PREFACE
This treatise is designed to provide a brief and essentially practical guide to current teaching in Forensic Medicine with pmticular reference to India. The subject matter has been dealt with concisely, which is easy to grasp and simplified in presentation, and wherever necessary illustrations, tables and points have been inserted to help the students. The airn is to provide reasonable coverage of the subject as a whole. An attempt has been made to maintain the practical character of the book. I hope the reader will find it of immense help while dealing with any medicolegal case. Over and above, the book has been entirely revised and special additions and alterations have also been made and the overall text brought up-to-date. It is intended ptimarily to meet the needs of the undergraduate medical students, to have clear grasp of this subject. Certain topics, such as forensic ballistics, regional injuries, anesthetic and operative deaths, DNA fingerprinting and blood stains have been dealt with in detail to meet the requirements of medical officers. Even where less attention is given to some topics, sufficient has been included to meet the requirements of medicolegal experts. Every endeavour has been made to preclude the identification of the deceased from the photographs. A few new topics, such as procedure to be followed in dealing with . .medicolegal cases, virtual
Essentials of Forensic Medicine
A doctor may be called to testify (1) as an ordinary witness who saw an incident, (2) as the medical practitioner who treated the patient, (3) as an expert to give his opinion on matter of science
. In the first two conditions, it is his duty and obligation to testify. In the last condition he may refuse the request:, ( 1) if he feels reluctant to undergo what he fears will be a painful experience, (2) if he feels that he is not sufficiently qualified to testify with any conviction in that particular case, and (3) if he feels that he cannot spare the time to prepare properly or to make long appearances in Court
. A properly prepared physician often finds his Court room experience educative and not as traumatic as he would have anticipated
. His introduction to the legal process may be unpleasant, if he is irritated by an aggressive prosecuting or defence lawyer
. The reluctance of medical practitioners to become witnesses is mainly due to the pressures of their private practice
. Other factors include a fear of merciless cross-examination. harassment, and even the recall.