A manual of medical jurisprudence / by Alfred Swaine Taylor.

  • Alfred Swaine Taylor
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of medical jurisprudence / by Alfred Swaine Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    27/798 (page 5)
    MEDICO-LEGAL OBSERVATION. This want of preparation frequently applies to facts as well as to opinions. Thus, in reference to a case on which a charge of murder or manslaughter may be ultimately founded, a medical man who is called in, omits to observe many circumstances, because at the time they appear to him to have little importance, although at the sub- sequent trial he may find, to his dismay, that they actually become the turning points of innocence or guilt. Medical observation as a result of professional habits is, on these occasions, in general con- fined to only one set of circumstances—the recognition and treat- ment of accident or disease ; but medico-legal observation should take a much wider range than this, and should be directed to all the surrounding facts and incidents of a case. The essential differ- ence in the two kinds of practice is, that circumstances which are of no interest in a medical or surgical point of view, are often of the greatest value and importance in legal medicine. It is obvious that if they are not observed by a medical witness when he is first summoned to the injured person, whether dying or dead, it will be out of his power to meet many of the questions which must arise in the progress of the case. The non-observance of these facts is a serious evil, and often carries with it, although unjustly, an impu- tation of professional ignorance. The first duty, therefore, of a medical jurist is to cultivate a faculty of minute observation of medical and moral circumstances. This, when combined with a general knowledge of what the law requires as evidence, will enable him to meet in a satisfactory manner all the scientific questions that may be necessary for the elucidation of a case. The exercise of this faculty is by no means inconsistent with the performance of his duties as a surgeon. A learned judge on one occasion remarked that ' a medical man, when he sees a dead body, shoidd notice everything^ Undoubtedly he should observe everything which could throw a light upon the production of wounds or other injuries found upon it. It should not be left to policemen to say whether there were any marks of blood on the dress or on the hands of the deceased, or on the furniture in the room. The dress of the deceased as well as the body should be always closely examined on the spot by the medical man. It may stimulate the attention of a medical practitioner in refer- ence to these inquiries if he is informed that the great art of counsel who defend persons charged with murder or manslaughter, consists in endeavouring to discover what he omitted to do. Although sometimes the omission may be really of no medical importance whatever, yet it is usually placed before the jury in such a strong light that the accused obtains the benefit of a doubt. The omission may be attributed to professional ignorance, or, what is worse, to professional bias—a determination to find proofs of guilt against the ' unhappy prisoner at the bar'—when the facts might be inno- cently explained by a want of experience on the part of the witness in dealing with cases of this nature. If we except medical experts, who are selected according to their