When a person visits a hospital, the prescription handed over at the end of the consultation is not merely a list of medicines. It is the outcome of a professional process. The patient is reg-istered, examined, assessed clinically, diagnosed and treated. The hospital creates a record of that interaction and the prescription represents the professional judgment of the medical team involved. This raises an important question: why should such a document carry a disclaimer stating that it is “not for medico-legal purposes”?

Consider a genuine situation where an employee becomes ill, visits a hospital, receives treatment and is prescribed medication or advised rest. Later, the employer takes disciplinary action, claiming that the employee was absent without justification and the matter reaches a le-gal forum. Should that employee not have the right to present the medical document issued by a recognized healthcare institution as evidence that he was receiving treatment during that period?

The purpose of such a document is not to decide the entire........

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