The potential for the use of personal computers in clinical forensic medicine

This paper describes the use of a personal computer in clinical forensic medicine. It shows how a database can be easily created, updated for each new case by unqualified personnel, and then used to provide statistical data with a minimum resource input, without the need for great computer expertise. Databases will only recognise exactly identical abbreviations. Once created they can cross-reference data and provide individually tailored statistics. Registration with the Data Protection Agency is required in the UK in order to hold personal information on file. The results of 2201 cases entered on the database of one forensic physician show high levels of drug and alcohol abuse co-existing with unemployment and homelessness. 53% of individuals brought to police stations as a place of safety (under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983) were in need of admission to a psychiatric hospital. 12% of those individuals were of no fixed abode. The potential for a national database linking forensic physicians on a national basis, pooling their data thereby creating a powerful statistical tool is clear.