Practical forensic medicine : a police-surgeon's emergency guide / by C. Graham Grant ; with which is a chapter on fees by Herbert Austin.

  • Grant, Charles Graham.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Practical forensic medicine : a police-surgeon's emergency guide / by C. Graham Grant ; with which is a chapter on fees by Herbert Austin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    Some surgeons have taken exception to the alleged fact that the magistrates use these certificates as evidence, and no doubt the decision is frequently influenced by the reports in question ; but it must be borne in mind that the medical man is called in by the Commissioner, who pays him for the certificate he gives ; and if the police decide to place this before the court, the surgeon is hardly in a position to object. To what extent the magistrate is legally justified in using the certificate as evidence must be weighed by him. Suppose A is charged with being drunk, which he denies ; the divisional surgeon is called, who certifies him to be sober. Can it be seriously advanced that the magistrate is to take no notice of such a fact unless the prisoner calls, and pays, the medical man as a witness ? If this were so, it might justly be said, ' There is one law for the rich and another for the poor.' Your entry should be brief, but, of course, accurate. The word ' drunk ' is a legal rather than a medical term, and is greatly objected to by many prisoners, who con- sider themselves sober if they can stand up, and who are quite satisfied to be shown as ' intoxicated ' or ' under the influence of drink.' Although the latter fact has no bearing on your duties, still, the word ' intoxicated' is easier to justify on medical grounds in the witness-box. When a man falls and receives a wound on his head from contact with the pavement, this should be described as a ' lacerated scalp-wound,' and not as a ' cut head,' which it is not. Occurrence Book. This book, as far as the divisional surgeon is con- cerned, is now used for bringing to the knowledge of officers—other than those connected with the case—any