The student's handbook of forensic medicine and medical police / by H. Aubrey Husband.

Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The student's handbook of forensic medicine and medical police / by H. Aubrey Husband. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    29/594 (page 13)
    Tlieir belief must be the test by which his scientific opinion is to be established. That which may be deemed by the medical evidence clear and unequivocal, may not hit the sense of the gentlemen of the long robe, nor carry conviction to the jiuy. The advice given by Sir W. Blizard may not be out of place here :—' Ee the plainest men in the world in a coiu't of justice ; never harbour a thought that if you do not appear positive, you must appear little and mean for ever after : many old practitioners have erred ia this respect. Give your evidence in as concise, plain, and yet clear manner as possible; be intelligent, candid, open, and just, never aiming at appearing unnecessarily scientific. State all the sources by which you have gained your information. If you can, make your evi- dence a self-evident truth ; thus, though the court may at the time have too good or too mean an opinion of your judgment, yet they must deem you an honest man. Xever, then, be dogmatic, or set yourself up for judge and jury; take no side whatever, be impartial, and you wUl be honest. In courts of judicature you ^yill frequently hear the counsellors complain when a surgeon gives his opinion with any the least kind of doubt, that he does not speak clearly; but if he is loud and positive, if he is technical and dogmatic, then he is allowed to be clear and right. I am sorry to have to observe that this is too frequently the case.' Lihality of Medical Men to reveal Professional Secrets.—The question has arisen how far a medi- cal man is bound to reveal the secrets confided to him in his professional capacity as medical attendant. This question was raised by Mr Cfesar Hawkins in the trial of the Duchess of Kingston (11 Harg. St. Tri. 243), before the House of Peers, and decided by Lord Mans- field thus :—' Mr Hawkins will understand that it is i your (the other Peers) judgment and opinion, that a surgeon has no privilege, where it is a anaterial ques- tion in a civil or criminal course, to know whether