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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2021
Attorneys and physicians dealing with medicolegal issues frequently are confronted by the question of which medical textbooks a physician is likely to recognize as “authoritative” so that the text may be used in direct or cross-examination. Consequently, doctors and lawyers must have more than a passing familiarity with these texts for pretrial research and preparation for courtroom testimony.
The following list has been prepared as a guide for this purpose. This list itemizes by medical subject the standard textbooks in each field. Where more than one book is listed under a given specialty, the books are listed in rough order of the author's preference.
Those books preceded by the letter “A” are contained in “Recommended Textbooks and Journals for a “Core Medical Library” in 280 New England Journal of Medicine 475-8 (Feb. 27, 1969).
1. Texts in these areas are usually of little use to an attorney.
2. A new edition of this text is currently in preparation.
3. These texts are good but are getting old.
4. These two volumes translate the code numbers for diagnosis and surgery appearing on the discharge sheet of most hospital records. These codes may be vital to a legal action, as illustrated in one of our current malpractice cases in which the code number E930.0 was listed. This number translates as “Complications and misadventures in operative therapeutic procedures; in surgical treatment. excluding effects of anesthetic management”
5. Many valuable standards and recommendations are available from sources such as the American College of Surgeons, the American Hospital Association (also see their section on “Emergency Services” in their Accreditation Manual for Hospitals), the A.M.A. the American Heart Association, etc. As to cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the standards are now officially detailed in 227 (7) (Supplement) J.A.M.A. (Feb 18. 1974), authored by the National Conference on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiac Care, cosponsored by the American Heart Association and National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council. Reprints are available from the American Heart Association, Distribution Dept, 44 East 23rd Street, New York, New York 10010.
6. This work is especially valuable for two reasons. First, it is written by the A.C.S and as such its authoritativeness is difficult to deny. Second, it clearly details the proper method for diagnosing and treating most injuries. It is particularly thorough in the field of fractures.
7. This text is essential for any medicolegal library.
8. This little book is frequently carried by interns and residents.
9. This paperback book is a handy reference to ascertain the significance of various results of laboratory tests.
10. Also see the Standards for Obstetric-Gynecologic Hospital Services by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
11. In addition to the A.C.S text referred to above and DePalma, one should also consult in any fracture case two standard treatises now out-of-print: Walson-Jones, Fractures and Joint Injuries (2 vol. 1955) and Conwell & Reynolds. Key and Conwell's Management of Fractures, Dislocations and Sprains (1961).
12. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (430 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago) has several other useful publications.
13. There are, of course, many excellent texts on the various specialties, for example: Lindskog, et al., Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery with Related Pathology (3d ed. 1973) (excellent); Gibbons, et al., Surgery of the Chest (2d ed. 1969) (also excellent but older); Welch, Surgery of the Stomach and Duodenum (5th ed. 1973), Voumans, Neurological Surgery (1973) ($114.00); Jaffe, Cataract Surgery and its Complications (1972); Dodson, Urological Surgery (4th ed. 1970).