title: General practitioners, court reports, and alcohol related offences.
abstract: General practitioners may have to submit medical reports to the courts on patients who have a suspected alcohol problem, 98% of such requests coming from magistrates courts. When, however, a defendant decides to plead "not guilty" to an offence on the grounds of intoxication general practitioners are often asked to prepare a report to support the plea. We present guidelines on preparing such reports and discuss the implications of the contents.
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D003415:Crime; D004739:England; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006801:Humans; D010821:Physicians, Family