Knowledge of Fresh Interns About Legal Aspects of Medicine

Background: The aim of teaching Forensic Medicine and Toxicology to undergraduate medical students is to produce a physician who is well-versed about medicolegal responsibilities in practice of medicine, has ample knowledge of law in relation to medical practice and has due respect for codes of medical ethics.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of fresh interns about legal aspects of medicine and in turn assess whether the programme educational objective of teaching Forensic Medicine to undergraduates is effectively met and programme outcome is achieved.

Methods: A cross sectional questionnaire based survey was conducted among 100 fresh interns on the first day of their internship training during the orientation programme held for them.

Results: Total of 100 fresh interns participated in the present study. 74% of them felt that present undergraduate teaching of Forensic Medicine is not sufficient for the Indian Medical Graduate to handle medicolegal cases independently and 53% were of the opinion that they would be anxious to deal with medicolegal cases. 89% of the subjects knew that obtaining consent for medical procedure is not imperative in emergency situations.82% of the fresh interns were aware that when a victim of a sexual offence is a girl child, she has to be examined by a female doctor. More than half of the respondents were not aware of procedure of issuing cause of death certificate in medicolegal cases.

Conclusion: Reinforcement of what is taught in the Forensic Medicine Syllabus is the need of the hour, which could be achieved by teaching which is aligned and integrated both horizontally and vertically thus recognizing the importance of medico-legal and ethical issues as they relate to the practice of medicine.