Discussion of medico-legal issues is not limited to the confines of the courtroom but has reached the tea time chat in a common household through media trials. This advancement has far exceeded the expectation of medical educators. Traditionally, medico-legal training of a physician has been limited to passing the exam of Forensic medicine during their undergraduate studies, followed by- on job exposure- and dealing with life situations.

Today, medical practitioners encounter various situations, including forensic and jurisprudential work. These situations are increasing daily in number and variety owing to increasing public awareness and in the interest of the law. In our experience, most practitioners (esp. young doctors) need to gain experience in dealing with medico-legal queries, whether it is related to appearing as a court witness or defending a negligence suit filed against themselves. Even allegations of wrong conduct by doctors have come to light recently.

On further analysis of such events, we find that most of the time, the lag in fulfilling the medico-legal responsibility arises out of a need for more awareness of the practitioner rather than being an intentional undertaking. Such lack of awareness must be addressed immediately to help maintain the doctor-society (reflected in Doctor-patient) relationship.

This conference is designed to bridge the knowledge-practice gap between what is expected and what is being done by medical professionals in dealing with medico-legal situations.