Emergency Medicine

POLICE, CORONER AND ATTENDING COURT

454 Administrative and Legal Issues

4 A police medical officer or police surgeon may then take the sample, using

all their own equipment that does not involve the hospital facilities at any

stage.

(i) Usually, local legislation dictates that the ED doctor draws the

blood sample.

Request for a police medical statement

1 The purpose of this statement is to act as a record to be read out in court

without necessitating the doctor being present.

(i) The patient must first provide written consent before you may

disclose confidential medical information.

(ii) Use any pre-printed forms supplied by the police.

(iii) State your full name, age, contact address and telephone number,

medical qualifications, job status, your employing health

authority and duration of that employment.

(iv) State the date you were on duty in the ED, the hospital’s name

and the time you examined the patient.

(v) Continue with the full name, age, sex, occupation and address

of the patient. Record the time and date of any subsequent

attendances in the ED.

(vi) Recount the history (as told to you) without making personal

inferences.

(vii) Record the physical findings noted using language a non-medical

person can understand

(a) state the actual size of any abrasions, bruises and lacerations,

including whether the true skin was broken

(b) make a comment as to whether the injuries found were

consistent with the use of a particular weapon or implement

as suggested by the patient’s history.

(viii) List all the investigations performed, such as X-rays and

laboratory tests, and their results, including relevant negatives.

(ix) State the treatment given, including sutures and their number,

and record the time the patient spent in hospital or attending

outpatients.

(x) Finally, end the report where possible with a rough prognosis.

(xi) Sign the report where indicated on each separate page.

2 Always keep a photocopy of your report, and note the name and number of

the police officer requesting the statement, and his or her police station.

Coroner

1 Inform the coroner (procurator fiscal in Scotland) of all sudden or

unexpected deaths, and deaths involving homicide, suicide, an accident or