The Applicability of DNA Techniques in Investigations of Hospital Malpractices

Abstract

DNA analysis has been used successfully in a number of parentage cases and for the purposes of identification. However DNA typing is still not generally integrated efficiently into hospital systems in India. I report here the use of DNA evidence in a parentage dispute that arose as a result of a bizarre sequence of events in a maternity ward of General Hospital, Chandigarh, India. The changing standards of hospital practice and social attitudes such as gender bias are likely to augment medico-legal problems in India. There is good reason for DNA profiling methods to be introduced into the hospitals.