Three doctors issued a handwritten medical report – post mortem on the injuries of victims for a criminal case which could not be read due to shabby writing. The Allahabad high court – bench summoned these doctors and fined each doctor ₹5000. The court said that the report obstructs judicial work.
The court also stated that post mortem reports are prepared to help advocates and judges. In 2012 the UP general for medical health issued a circular for medical reports in ‘readable form’, the judges said that these guidelines were ignored. The doctors complained high work load for shabby writing.
In the state of Jharkhand the Government issued a notification to doctors to ensure prescriptions are clear and to write only using capital letters (bold letters) late Sept 2018. However the Indian medical Association came out and said that if doctors write in capital letters it could take 10-15 minutes for one prescription, so several patients may have to leave without a prescription.
For most of us it’s tough to make sense of the doctors handwriting; just like a riddle, however this is usually solved by our pharmacists.