AN ODE TO THE DOCTOR'S SCRIBBLE

Handwriting has deteriorated for everyone, not doctors alone. But it’s a rare profession that still needs a lot to be written by hand. An illegible scrawl could be perilous

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RASANANDA Bhoi's elder son died of snake-bite and he expected an ex gratia payment from the Odisha government.

When this was not forthcoming, he filed a writ petition before Orissa High Court. Naturally, there would have to be a post mortem, but the judge could not read the doctor's post mortem report. Peeved, Justice S K Panigrahi observed, "The tendency of writing in a zigzag manner which cannot be read by any common man or a judicial officer has become a fashion among doctors of the state. A substantial number of doctors resort to such handwriting which cannot be read by any ordinary person.

The judge continued, "It is expected that doctors who are dealing with medicolegal issues and writing casually in very poor handwriting, are required to change their attitude and write either in capital letter or in a typed form or in good handwriting so that the judicial system does not suffer from unnecessary fatigue in reading their handwriting." He issued an order to the effect that the chief secretary should issue a directive to all medical centres, private clinics, medical colleges and hospitals requiring that handwriting in prescriptions and medico-legal reports should be legible. (The doctor appeared virtually before the court and explained what he had written. Rasananda Bhoi's son had indeed died of snake-bite and he was thus entitled to compensation.) This order is from January 2024. But this is not the first time the Orissa High Court and Justice Panigrahi have been upset.

There was a similar case in 2020, when the court heard the bail application of a man who wanted to take care of his ailing wife.