Analysis of Pattern of Medico Legal Cases Registered in the Casualty Department of a Teaching Hospital, Karimnagar, Telangana

Abstract

context: A medicolegal case is any medical case with legal implications. These medico-legal cases differ among regions based on socio-economic status, cultural diversities, capability of law enforcing agencies and the prevailing standards of health care services available in the community. aim: This study was aimed to know the pattern and magnitude of medico legal cases. material & methods: It is a record based analytical cross sectional study in which all the MLC cases registered in MLC record book of Chalmeda Anand Rao Institute of Medical Sciences, Karimnagar between January to June 2017 were included. Cases found non medico-legal were excluded. Variables considered were gender, age, time of arrival. Findings were expressed in numbers and percentages. results: Total cases were 464, of which 355 (76.50%) were males and 109 (23.50%) were females. Maximum cases were from the age group of 21-40 years i.e., 206 (44.39%). Most of the medico-legal cases registered were due to Road Traffic Accidents (53.67%) followed by machinery (factory) injuries (20.25%), poisoning (8.84%), fall from height (6.26%), assault (4.52%), thermal injuries (4.52%), injuries by animals (0.86%), self-inflicted injuries (0.64%), injuries due to violent asphyxia (0.22%), railway injuries (0.22%). conclusions: Most of the victims were males, young adults. Most common cases reported as medico legal cases were road traffic accidents followed by machinery injuries and poisoning cases, etc.