AN OVERVIEW OF MEDICO-LEGAL CASES REPORTING TO A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL OF SOUTH INDIA

Background: Proper handling of medico-legal cases is an important aspect of a healthcare facility. The spectrum of the
medico-legal cases depends upon the cultural and socio-demographic diversity, the policies of law enforcing agencies
and the manner of the injury. Therefore, it becomes imperative for the hospital administrators to study the pattern of such cases so that it would
help them to deal with such cases promptly and in more appropriate way and improve upon their facilities accordingly. To study the pattern Aim:
of Medico-legal cases reporting to a tertiary care hospital of South India. It i Methods: s a record based cross-sectional study conducted in a
tertiary care teaching hospital in South India over a period of 1 year from 1st October 2021 to 30th September 2022 where the Medico-legal
register and case-sheets of medico-legal cases were thoroughly studied and data pertaining to their demographic prole, date, time and manner of
injury were noted. Out of 1561 cases studied, 1146 cases were males and 415 cas Results: es were females and a majority belonged to the age
group of 21 to 40 years (46.5%).A total of 828 cases (53%) belonged to the urban areas. The peak hours for reporting of cases was between 12pm
to 6pm (39%) while least number of cases had reported past mid-night. A majority of medico-legal cases reported during monsoons (46%). Road
Trafc Accidents (58.2%) constituted the majority of cases, followed by poisoning (11.8%) and the manner of injuries were accidental in nature
in majority of cases (77%) The study gives an insight about the spectrum of medic Conclusion: o-legal cases reporting to the study hospital. It
projects the domains which need to be focused by the government and healthcare policy makers in terms of providing appropriate facilities and
implementation of laws for ensuring effective handling/management of the medico-legal cases.