The Orissa High Court has ordered the State government to issue a directive to all doctors to write post-mortem reports and prescriptions in capital letters or in legible handwriting.
The issue came to the fore during the hearing of a case regarding granting of ex gratia in a snakebite death. The post-mortem report was not legible.
“In many cases, the casual approach of most of doctors while writing the post-mortem report is affecting the comprehension of medico-legal documents badly, and the judicial system finds it very difficult to read those letters and come to a definite conclusion,” observed Orissa High Court judge Justice S.K. Panigrahi in a recent order.
