Manual of clinical medicine and physical diagnosis / by Thomas Hawkes Tanner.

  • Tanner, Thomas Hawkes, 1824-1871.
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Manual of clinical medicine and physical diagnosis / by Thomas Hawkes Tanner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    by law; but when a witness is about to refer to them in a court of justice, he will often be asked whether he is using them for the purpose of refreshing his memory, or whether he is about to speak only from what is written on the paper, without having any precise recollection on the subject. If for the latter purpose, the evidence is in- admissible, for it has been held by our judges that notes can only be used in evidence for the purpose of refreshing the memory on a fact indistinctly remembered; they are, in other words, allowed to assist recollection, not to con- vey information. If the notes of any cases be written at the dictation of the practitioner, they should be carefully read over after- wards and corrected so that they may be sworn to as true. Confessions and Death-bed Declarations.—A culprit may make a confession of guilt to his medical attendant, and it is well that it should be known, that to be admissible in a court of law, it must be free and voluntary, unin- fluenced by threat, promise, or inducement. The medical man, then, if asked to receive a confession, must hold out no sort of inducement to make it. He should put no lead- ing questions and make no comments, but should reduce the statement to writing as soon as possible, read it over to the person confessing, obtain his signature to it, and countersign it himself.* The same rules apply to all death- bed declarations, in homicidal cases, which, it must be re- membered, will only be subsequently admissible as legal evidence, when the parties making them were satisfied that recovery was impossible. Evidence may be given, however, to show that the declarator was the subject of unsoundness of mind at the time of declaration, or was unduly influenced by revengeful or other feelings. Reports for Judicial Purposes-—In drawing up a report of the symptoms, post-mortem appearances, and results of a chemical analysis, the facts should be in the first instance plainly stated in language free from techni- cal terms, and easily intelligible to non-professional per- sons, any display of erudition beingmisplaced. In recording facts, also, a reporter should not encumber his statements with opinions and inferences, but should reserve his con- clusions until the end of the report. The language in * See Dr. Guy's Forensic Medicine.