All of us who have made frustrated attempts at decoding prescriptions can now thank the Bombay high court for bringing at least one doctor to book.
Doc asked to give an affidavit saying she will write legible reportsMUMBAI: All of us who have made frustrated attempts at decoding prescriptions can now thank the Bombay high court for bringing at least one doctor to book.
Unable to read an ossification test report written by a radiologist of the civil hospital at Thane, a division bench of justice SB Mhase and justice RV More had on Tuesday sought an affidavit from the doctor stating that from now on she will write her reports in “legible” handwriting.
The case pertains to Bhuraram Solanki, 54, a vegetable dealer from Bhayander who had filed a habeas corpus petition after his 17-year-old daughter went missing. Solanki had alleged that his daughter Narmada who went missing on July 2 was last seen with their neighbour Lalita Bengali who allegedly worked in a bar. Solanki had contended that his daughter, a school drop-out, was a minor and was being illegally detained at Bengali’s behest.
However, the Thane police traced Narmada in Kolkata where she had got married. The court then ordered an ossification test to determine her age and sent her to a remand home for a day. Though she was in school uniform, Narmada had sindoor on her forehead and was wearing red and white bangles, indicative of a married Bengali woman.
The test report on Narmada’s age was given to the court a day later, but despite straining their eyes to read it the judges could not decipher the doctor’s handwriting. Peeved at the waste of judicial time, the court asked the doctor to appear in court and give an explanation.
Additional public prosecutor Aruna Kamath-Pai told the court the doctor was on leave and had gone to Pune. Another doctor from the hospital was then called to ‘decode’ the report that said Narmada was over 19. When given a choice by the court, Narmada opted to live with her husband and the court disposed of the case. But the court was keen not to let the doctor off so easily and sought an affidavit that she would henceforth write reports in good handwriting.
Explaining why doctors’ write in a bad hand, handwriting expert Meena Thaker says, “Their mind works faster than their hand that’s why they have bad handwriting.”
“It may not be so bad in school, but handwriting deteriorates as doctors use medical terms and they write assuming it will be read by another doctor or a chemist,” says handwriting improvement instructor Chandra Suryanarayan.
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