Doctors must justify suspicion of fabricated injury

LHC urges improvement of qualification of examiners for medico-legal cases

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Ali Zia Bajwa has directed medical examiners to ensure mentioning cogent reasons regarding suspicion of fabrication of injury in the Medico-Legal Certificate (MLC) rather than ticking or circling the options of yes and no in the column.

The judge issued the instructions over a report submitted by an additional secretary of the primary and secondary healthcare department, revealing that “approximately 90% medical examiners are inexpert, untrained and know nothing about the practical aspects of examining an injured”.

The report revealed that only 10.45% medical examiners met the minimum qualification mandatory before start of medico-legal work. Justice Bajwa ordered, “Both, primary & secondary healthcare and specialised healthcare & medical education departments shall ensure that medical examiners should meet the minimum qualification threshold and no unqualified and inexperienced doctor shall be posted to perform such crucial and sensitive job”.

The court declared that the minimum qualification threshold should be improved gradually as a one-month practical training course seemed inadequate and too short to perform such a sensitive and complex job.

“Every medical examiner shall be bound to furnish his reasons in support of his opinion and for that purpose a space shall be provided in the MLC," it observed. The judge remarked that a medico-legal system with 90% inexpert and unqualified medical examiners was not in consonance with the right to fair trial guaranteed under Article 10-A of the Constitution.

Opinion of a medical examiner is not only relevant but also most pivotal in the criminal justice system and at times it plays a decisive role coupled with other evidence, the judge declared. He remarked that the guarantee of fair trial was a wishful expectation without a medico-legal system comprising of experts having adequate qualification and skills.

Justice Bajwa observed that giving opinion about the fabrication of injury without offering convincing reasons and justification was not in accordance with the settled norms of justice.

Instructions were issued on April 8, 2008 by the Punjab Medico-Legal Surgeon to the chairpersons of all District Standing Medical Boards (DSMB) in the province that the practice of writing “possibility of fabrication or manipulation cannot be ruled out” was wrong and unjustified in the absence of substantial grounds and supporting evidence and should be stopped immediately.