Volume 1

The principles and practice of medical jurisprudence / by Alfred Swaine Taylor.

  • Alfred Swaine Taylor
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles and practice of medical jurisprudence / by Alfred Swaine Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    32/772 page 8
    MEDICAL REPORTS mcnS tI r ^n^^ t« l^'^^P facts distinct from Lis com- ments The former may be useful as evidence; the latter are inadmissible With respect to the first of these defects, it is very much the practice of medical men, in drawing up reports of medical cases for profe sW purposes, to use unthinkingly, exaggerated language. Thus it mayTe itrili^lttf?^^^^^^^^^ ordinary post-mortem examinationfth^ 1- • , £ , 1 ° — jJKJDu-Luuritiui examination, the linmg-membrane of the stomach is described as being ' intensely' inflamed • or some part is 'considerably' injected, or a cavity is 'enormously ' •i? 4 ^^P^'^^^^o^B ^^^^ loosely employed convey to the legal mind a widely-different meaning from that intended by the reporter. They create also great difficulty m evidence if withdrawn or modihed—a chan4 which other circumstances may show to be necessary, and at the same time they place the witness m an undesirable position before the Court. On the other hand, if retained, they may render the facts unsusceptible of explanation upon any theory of natural disease. Such descriptions obviously imply a comparison with similar conditions in numerous other dead bodies • but what is the standard by which they are really measured, and what oppor- tunity has the witness had of creating such a standard in his own mind ? In general, it will be found that such expressions have been used without proper consideration, from a habit acquired by the writer in reportino- cases for the information of medical men only. Let him who is inclined to nse them bear in mind that barristers look much more closely to the strict signification of words than medical men, and that they are always disposed to distrust the judgment of one who cannot speak or write without resorting to the use of the superlative degree. The free use of teclmical terms in drawing up reports may be attributed to a similar practice in the profession. Putting aside those cases in which a medical man thinks he is displaying his erudition by the selection and use of such terms, there can be no doubt that great numbers of medical practitioners fall into this practice from mere habit. They think they are addressing the report to a medical society, instead of a coroner and jury ■who have never in their reading or experience met with such terms, and to whom therefore they are unintelligible. In a report on the appearances in the body of a man who had suffered from chronic insanity, the following passage occurred:—' The only morbid appearance in the brain was an atheromatous deposit in the Pons Varolii, near the situation of the locus niger.' In another document, the reporter stated, for the information of a coroner's jury, that the ' integuments of the cranium were reflected, and the calvarium was exposed.' If a reporter will use such terms as these or others of a similar kind, such as 'parietes of the abdomen,' 'epigastrium,' ' hypertrophy of the liver,' when it would require no more trouble to put what he means in plain English, he must be prepared to have his meaning perverted or wholly misunderstood. Setting aside the men who act as jul-ors, it may be observed that educated persons, such as coroners and magistrates, do not commonly include professional terms within the range of their studies. There are but few of them who understand the difference between perineum and peritoneum, or the meaning of the words hemi- spheres of the brain, pia mater, puncta cruenta, corpora quadrigemina, centrum ovale, &c. They are not likely to know the difference between the cardia and pylorus, nor the nature or situation of the duodenum, jeju- num, ileum or cEecum, and are as ready to consider them to be parts of the liver or urinary bladder as of the intestines. On one occasion, a learned judge asked for an explanation of the meaning of the term 'alimentary canal.' A slight consideration will show to any medical practitioner that refined professional language is wholly misplaced in a report which is intended to inform and convince the minds of ordinary men upon plain matters of fact.
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