Retrospective Study of Profile of Medico-legal Cases at Basaveshwara Medical College, Chitradurga

Abstract

Casualty department of any hospital is an important area, because most of the medical emergencies and
almost all medico legal cases report first to causality of hospital. The prime duty of doctor is to treat and
save the life of patient, however once stabilizedthe same doctor has to carry out exhaustive documentation
of medico legal cases. This puts on extra burden on duty Doctor. The present study is carried out with a view
to understand the pattern and magnitude of Medico legal cases in this region. Two years retrospective data
was collectedbetween 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2019 from the casualty, Basaveshwara Medical
College, Chitradurga. Study revealed that Poisoning (40.04%) constituted majority of medico legal cases
followed by road traffic accidents (31.12%) with male preponderance (3.32:1); majority of victims were
between 21-30 years (32.5%); large number of victims were urban inhabitants (57.4%); most of the cases
were from Hindu community (90.4%); majority of cases (58.9%) reported to casualty within 1 hour from
the time of incidence;maximum number of cases (40.50%) were reported between 6 pm - 12 am of the day;
maximum number of cases was treated on the IPD basis (64.30%);more number of MLC was reported in
month of August (48 cases).