Lawyers and doctors at times will not hestitate to argue quite forcefully with each other about various legal issues, for example, those related to insanity. The lawyer, however, may know next to nothing about psychiatry and the doctor nothing at all about the aims and purposes of the overall rule of law under which he lives.
Most doctors or lawyers are too little aware of the involvement which forensic medicine has with the criminal law, the civil law, psychiatry, broad mental health programming, public health, government medical care, rehabilitation, narcotics, juvenile delinquency, constitutional law, supply and use of human parts, abortion, suicide, sterilization, contraception, euthanasia, artificial insemination, and many other areas.
This book discusses many of these topics in a practical, yet penetrating and thoughtful, manner. It cannot take the place of a textbook, but few current books will provide a better base for the preparation of a lawyer, doctor,