A Prospective study on clinical forensic cases examined at North Colombo Teaching hospital ; new challenges for the 21st century

Abstract

The specific objective of the study is to do a quantitative analysis of forensically relevant clinical cases examined at North Colombo Teaching Hospital with a view of identifying lapses in the medico-legal management and suggest recommendations to improve the system. The data was collected by analyzing the completed Medico-legal Examination Forms (MLEF) and personal notes made by the examining doctor attached to Department of Forensic Medicine at the North Colombo Teaching Hospital. The study revealed that the majority of the victims were male (73.3%) and belong to the age group of 19-59 years (84%). The victims who were examined had sustained injuries mainly due to assaults and accidents. (71%) Wife battery amounted to 5.9% of the cases. A sound medico-legal service is important for the existence of a good criminal justice system. MLEF is an important tool to gather vital information. A modified MLEF, Forensic Nurse, Basic infrastructure facilities for all medico-legal centres with necessary equipment, statistics and costing of injured patients and prevention programmes to minimize accidents and violence are some of the recommendations from the authors.