Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Dec 2:13:521-526.
doi: 10.2147/OAEM.S341893. eCollection 2021.

Characteristics of Medico-Legal Cases and Errors in Medico-Legal Reports at a Teaching Hospital in Saudi Arabia

Mohammed Madadin  1 , Abdullah A Alqarzaie  1 , Rashed S Alzahrani  1 , Faisal F Alzahrani  1 , Saleh M Alqarzea  1 , Khalid M Alhajri  1 , Mohammed A Al Jumaan  2
Affiliations

Characteristics of Medico-Legal Cases and Errors in Medico-Legal Reports at a Teaching Hospital in Saudi Arabia

Mohammed Madadin et al. Open Access Emerg Med. .

Abstract

Introduction: A medico-legal case (MLC) involves any injury or medical condition in which law enforcement agencies investigate and fix the responsibility regarding of an injury or medical condition. Incorrect or incomplete medico-legal reports (MLRs) may trigger a pause or delay in legal proceedings and patients' rights could be violated. The aim of this study is to describe the characteristics of MLCs and to identify errors in the MLRs.

Materials and methods: This retrospective, descriptive study was conducted in a teaching hospital in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. In total, 418 MLRs furnished during a 6-month period and reviewed for characteristics of MLCs and identification of errors.

Results: A total of 418 MLRs were included in the present study. Fights or physical assault and battery formed the major proportion of MLCs amounting to 83% of MLCs. Blunt injury was the dominant type of injury in most of the cases (81.8%). In relation to errors in MLRs, no MLR in the present study were without errors.

Conclusion: Fights or physical assault and battery formed the major proportion of MLCs. Multiple errors were identified in the MLRs furnished by the physicians. Writing MLRs must follow standardized guidelines as it has a bearing on legal proceedings and patients' rights. We recommend training for physicians in writing MLRs in the interest of proper administration of justice.

Keywords: Saudi Arabia; injury; medico-legal case; medico-legal report.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Brahmankar TR, Sharma SK. A record-based study of frequency and pattern of medico-legal cases reported at a tertiary care hospital in Miraj. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2017;4:1348–1352. doi:10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20171374 - DOI
    1. Aktas N, Gulacti U, Lok U, Aydin İ, Borta T, Celik M. Characteristics of traumatic forensic cases admitted to emergency medicine and errors in the forensic report writing. Bull Emerg Trauma. 2018;6(1):64–70. doi:10.29252/beat-060110 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Linares-Gonzalez L, Rodriguez JS, Beltran-Aroca CM, Girela-Lopez E. Quality control of injury reports issued by primary health care and emergency medical services in the province of Cordoba. Rev Esp Med Legal. 2019;45(1):12–17.
    1. Siddappa SC, Datta A. A study pattern of medico-legal cases treated at a tertiary care hospital in central Karnataka. Indian J Forensic Community Med. 2015;2(4):193–197. doi:10.5958/2394-6776.2015.00002.8 - DOI
    1. Kotze JM, Brits H, Botes BA. Medico-legal documentation: South African police service forms, department of justice forms and patient information. S Afr Fam Pract. 2014;56:16–22.

LinkOut - more resources