Volume 1

The principles and practice of medical jurisprudence / by the late Alfred Swaine Taylor.

  • Taylor, Alfred Swaine, 1806-1880.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The principles and practice of medical jurisprudence / by the late Alfred Swaine Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    service in refreshing the mind of a medical man when he is called won to answer some question bearing upon an antecedent illness; hence it is very good advice to all medical men to keep notes of all their cases. Such a complete scheme is, however, m a large practice hardly practicable. Nevertheless it is of the most extreme importance to urge all medical men to make as copious notes as possible at the m-y first moment that the slightest degree of suspicion arises that any case may ultimately prove to become the subject of a medico-legal inquiry ; this is especially to be emphasised in the case of an accident, however trivial, for quite apart from the Workmen's Compensation Act there is a growing tendency for those injured by an accident to seek legal redress. , . ^ . • • u When suspicion that a case may become the subject of inquiry has come to be a certainty it is then not simply advisable, but it is the absolute bounden duty of the medical man, to commit to writing at the very earliest possible moment all he has hitherto observed of the case, all he can now observe, and, if the case does not terminate at once or has not already terminated, all he may observe in its further course. In various parts of this work— Kape, Wounds, etc., etc. special reference will continually be made to the notes that ought to be taken. His own observations must be kept distinct from informa- tion given by others; he may draw conclusions of value from the former, but the latter has to be proved before any conclusions can be drawn from it. Owing to the ordinary procedure of law in this country, a person charged with the crime of poisoning may remain imprisoned for weeks before he is brought to trial. It is obvious, however clear the circum- stances may at the time appear to a practitioner, that it will require more than ordinary powers of memory to retain for so long a period a distinct recollection of all the facts of a case. If he is unprovided with notes, and his memory is defective, then the case will turn in favour of the prisoner, who'will be the person to benefit by the neglect of the witness. In adopting the plan here recommended, such a result may be easily prevented. It may be remarked that the law relative to the admissibility of notes or memoranda in evidence is very strict, and, in trials for murder, is rigorously enforced by the judges. In order to render such notes or memoranda admissible, it is indispensably necessary that they should be taken by the witness at the time the observations are made, or as soon afterwards as practicable ; and further, it must be remembered that a witness can refer to them only for the purpose of refreshing his memory. He cannot read them out loud in the witness-box, giving them as his evidence ; but he may, and most commonly does, read them there to himself. If he is known to have such notes, he may be required to produce them. He need not be afraid nor ashamed to produce dirty or bloodstained notes, for example, of an autopsy. Dirt does not destroy their value, and may so far be an evidence of their bona fides, and that they were made at the very earliest moment. At a trial for murder, Red. v. Cnrrell, in 1887, Mr. Justice Grantham remarked on the medical evidence:— It was alHO unfortunate that the doctor first cnlled in (Dr. Davis) had not made a proper examination and had taken it for granted that because she was dead