Medicine, science, and the law
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Deaths by drowning are a serious public health problem worldwide. They are under-investigated and hence under-estimated. Drowning is an important and preventable cause of death. ⋯ The incidence of drowning declines as age advances. The highest number (96) of victims was under ten years of age. Deaths due to drowning are increasing especially among male children and young adults.
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If a doctor is grossly negligent and the patient dies as a result, the doctor can be charged with manslaughter. We have investigated the difference in opinion between medical professionals and the public on whether doctors should face criminal charges following different fatal medical errors. We conducted a survey of 40 medical professionals and 40 members of public, using a set of questions about negligence and manslaughter relating to four real-life cases of doctors charged with manslaughter where eventual outcomes were known. ⋯ However, across all cases, the public were more likely to respond that the doctor should be charged with manslaughter (OR = 2.1; 95% CI = 1.3-3.2). The public and, to a lesser extent, medical professionals still hold individuals responsible following a death due to medical error. This has implications for those who advocate a systems-based approach for assessing the root causes of medical errors, where there is a limited focus on individual accountability.
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A suicide pact is an agreement between two people to end their lives. The presence of an over-dependent relationship and a threat to the maintenance of closeness are strongly associated with the attempt. We present a case of a suicide pact where a 19-year-old female and a 20-year-old male who were lovers committed suicide by hanging because of opposition to their marriage from the family members.
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This paper describes an audit of the basic standard of record keeping for inpatient clinical records. Following an initial audit, the Royal College of Physicians' inpatient record keeping standards 6 and 7 were adopted. ⋯ A significant improvement was achieved in many areas including recording of time (19-82%), name of author (60-89%), location of patient (58-94%) and identity of the most senior doctor present (68-89%), (p<0.001). The Royal College of Physicians' record keeping standards through the use of audit can lead to considerable improvement in the standard of record keeping within psychiatric practice.