Pattern of Medicolegal Cases Reported at a Tertiary Care Centre, Udaipur, Rajasthan: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

A medicolegal case is a case of injury or illness where the attending doctor, after taking history and clinicalexamination of the patient, thinks that some investigation by law enforcement agencies is essential to establish andfix responsibility for the case in accordance with the law of the land. It is a responsibility of a registered medicalpractitioner to judge each case properly and in doubtful cases, it is better to inform the police. This saves thedoctor from unnecessary and needless allegations later. This study was carried out retrospectively on Pattern ofMedicolegal Cases reported to casualty department of Pacific Institute of Medical Sciences, Udaipur, a tertiary careteaching hospital from 1st January 2022 to 31st December 2022. The main objectives of the study were to highlightthe pattern of medicolegal cases. Data was collected and analyzed. Out of 297 cases studied, RTA constitutes amajority of cases (61.95%), followed by poisoning (15.83%), trauma by animal (8.08%) and fall from height (4.04%).241 (81.15%) were males and 56 (18.85%) were females. The majority of the victims belonged to 21-30 years of age91 (30.64%).The rural victims constituted 245 (82.50%) compared to the urban counterparts, 52 (17.50%). Maximumnumber of medicolegal cases reported to casualty between 12 pm - 6 pm, 108 (36.36%). Most of the cases werereported during rainy season 117 (39.39%). The study concludes that the burden of medicolegal cases demandsexact fixation of MLC, proper documentation, report submission, prevention and its rational management.