Awareness of Medico-Legal Issues among Medical College Health Professionals

Introduction: Medicine, a noble profession, aims at providing healthcare service to the people. But today medical practice is much beyond the concept of service. It deals with legal issues and it is necessary for doctors to know about the various medico-legal aspects of their practice. A doctor is solely responsible for the patient who comes to him for treatment. A patient has all rights to sue the doctor if the treatment and care provided is not satisfactory. Assessment of awareness about medico-legal issues and related aspects among the health professional population thus becomes necessary. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted using a self administered questionnaire with clinical scenario based questions. Responses were tabulated and analyzed. Result: Most of the doctors are aware about various medico-legal issues and precautions to be followed to prevent getting involved in such situations. Doctors have knowledge about informed consent, record keeping, confidentiality etc. Conclusion: Medical practitioners are well aware about the consequences they will have to face if treatment and care provision becomes faulty. They also have knowledge about the steps to be followed in order to protect themselves from getting involved in such situations. There is a need to spread awareness about medico-legal issues to further raise the quality of the service they provide.a