Constitution of medico-legal boards and medico-legal issues thereof

A Medical Board is constituted with the inherent aim of providing facts and the collective opinion of experts in that particular case. In certain sensitive and complicated medicolegal cases, which may require a collective experience and knowledge of individuals from the same or different specialties, it helps in a better delivery of justice. Law does not mandate the constitution of such boards, except in cases such as custodial or medical negligence deaths, etc. Nor are there any guidelines/SOPs regarding the same. However, various government authorities, courts, police, etc. have been issuing directions or furnishing requests for the constitution of medical boards in certain cases. But, the current practice related to the constitution of boards is often manipulated at the whims and fancies of the investigating officers citing various circumstantial and logistical reasons, thereby diluting the very essence of examination by such a board and causing a sheer wastage of resources and the efforts of already burdened specialists.