In brief
The Punjab and Haryana High Court in India has ordered doctors to improve their handwriting, stating that legible medical prescriptions are a fundamental right. This ruling highlights the dangers of misinterpreted prescriptions that can lead to grave consequences for patient health. The court has mandated that all prescriptions be written clearly in capital letters and has set a timeline for implementing digital solutions in the medical field.
At a time when most people use keyboards to write, does handwriting really matter?
Yes, say Indian courts, if the writer is a doctor.
Jokes around the notoriously bad handwriting of many doctors that can only be deciphered by pharmacists are common in India, as around the world. But the latest order emphasising the importance of clear handwriting came recently from the Punjab and Haryana High Court which said that legible medical prescription is a fundamental right as it can make a difference between life and death.
The court order came in a case that had nothing to do with the written word. It involved allegations of rape, cheating and forgery by a woman and Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri was hearing the man's petition for bail.
The woman had alleged that the man had taken money from her promising her a government job, conducted fake interviews with her and sexually exploited her.
The accused denied the charges - he said they had a consensual relationship and the case was brought on because of a dispute over money.
Justice Puri said when he looked at the medico-legal report - written by a government doctor who had examined the woman - he found it incomprehensible.
It shook the conscience of this court as not even a word or a letter was legible, he wrote in the order.
At a time when technology and computers are easily accessible, it is shocking that government doctors are still writing prescriptions by hand which cannot be read by anybody except perhaps some chemists, Justice Puri wrote.
The court asked the government to include handwriting lessons in the medical school curriculum and set a two-year timeline for rolling out digitised prescriptions.
Until that happens, all doctors must write prescriptions clearly in capital letters, Justice Puri said.
Dr Dilip Bhanushali, president of Indian Medical Association that has more than 330,000 doctors as members, told the BBC that they're willing to help find a solution to the problem.
In cities and bigger towns, doctors have moved to digital prescriptions, but it's very difficult in rural areas and small towns to get prescriptions that are clear.
Experts say a prescription that leaves room for ambiguity or misinterpretation can have serious consequences. According to a 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine (IoM), medical errors caused at least an estimated 44,000 preventable deaths annually in the US, of which 7,000 were attributable to sloppy handwriting.
India does not have robust data on harm caused by poor handwriting, but misreading of prescriptions in the past has resulted in health emergencies and many deaths.
