Preoperative informed consent: is it truly informed?

Pre-operative informed consent is an important aspect of surgery, yet there has been no formal training regarding it in Pakistan. This study was done to assess the preoperative informed consent practice. After taking informed permission, a questionnaire was filled in during an interview with 350 patients, who have undergone elective surgical procedures under routine practice conditions from July to October 2010. All the patients were asked a set of standard questions which related to the information they were provided before the operation as a part of standard informed consent practice. Most i.e. 307 [87.7%] patients were informed about their condition but very few 12 [3.4%] were briefed regarding complications. Only 17 [4.9%] patients said they knew about the risks and complications of proposed anesthesia. One hundred thirty-eight [39.4%] patients said that they were allowed to ask questions while giving consent. Most of the time 196 [56%] consent was taken one day before surgery but in few 2 [0.6%] instances it was taken on the morning of surgery and on operation table in some cases 3 [0.9%] as reported by patients. The consent form was signed by the patients themselves in only 204 [58.3%] cases and by their relatives in the rest. About half the number of patients 171 [48.9%] interviewed were satisfied from the information they received as informed consent process. This study highlights the poor quality of patient knowledge about surgical procedures and the inadequate information provided

First paternity case resolved by conventional and DNA typing method in Iraq :a case report

In Iraq, DNA Typing Profile has been added to the routine work of disputed paternity cases as a powerful tool of investigation in Forensic in 2007. The old conventional investigation based on blood antigen systems like variable blood groups, HLA Tissue Typing was no more used in such sensitive cases because of the limitation or invariability of loci analyzed. We report here the first case of paternity test done for a trios [Alleged father, mother and child] rebated by two old and new techniques. The alleged father has been excluded from being a biological father according to the mismatch in ABO, MN blood group and 5 genetic markers in DNA profile between the alleged father and son