ABTRACT

Background: Forensic medicine has made great role in the provision of justice and any disputed case related to human health that needs clarification by law is a medico-legal case. Emergency physicians are among the most common doctors along with the MLOs having such cases in their daily practice. Medicolegal cases are almost of equal nature around the globe requiring justifications of rights and to penalize the culprit.

Aim: To determine the nature and frequency of medicolegal cases at Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad.

Study Design: Cross-sectional.

Place and duration of study: Medicolegal Section, Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad from 1^stJanuary 2015 to 31^stDecember 2015.

Methods: A total of 3636 patients were collected carefully. Patients of all age groups of both genders were included registered as medico-legal while non-medicolegal cases were excluded.

Results: Three top issues were assaults, road traffic accident and fire arm injuries with 2758(75.85%), 489(13.45%) and 191(5.25%) respectively. Maximum issues were encountered in June, April and July with 388, 372 and 323as their respective number of cases presented.

Conclusion: Assaults were seen as most common presentation of medicolegal cases followed by road traffic accident and fire arm injuries in this region of Sindh Province of Pakistan.