Divided loyalties? the police surgeon and criminal justice

The work of the ‘police surgeon’ in Britain is characterised by role conflict with tensions between the medical/legal and therapeutic/evidential aspects of the role. This paper examines the dualisms which characterise the work of the police surgeon, and, on the basis of a national survey of police surgeons, provides data and analysis on the operation of the police surgeon service in England and Wales. It proceeds to focus more specifically and critically on the dilemmas of police surgeon work in three areas: ethical aspects of the police surgeon role; police surgeons’ treatment of victims of sexual assault; police surgeons’ decisions regarding mentally disordered persons.