Wednesday 5 May 2010

A cop out.

The bit of my job that I least enjoy here is the role of police doctoring that is forced upon us. So far I have avoided having to do any post mortems, but we see all the assault cases, rape cases and child abuse cases. All of these come with specific forms to be filled and sample kits (that involve swabs being folded up in boxes that require a high level of origami skill) that take a frustrating time to complete. What I find most frustrating though is how unqualified I consider myself to be to be completing these kits (goodness knows how many samples of my DNA I have accidentally provided) and writing down whether I feel a person's injuries could be consistent with their alleged assaults. The knowledge that my opinions can have huge implications for these people's lives in terms of prosecuting is overwhelming.
I also feel that it isn't entirely appropriate that we are seen as part of the police service (taking blood tests for drink driving and rape suspects). As doctors, patients should feel that they can trust us, that we act only in their best interests, as we have sworn to do.

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