EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS

Doctors Say Police Thwart Autopsies

Unable To Give Cause Of Unusual Deaths

Doctors are concerned the new autopsy law will become ineffective in the
face of the government's "carefree" attitude to the killing of drug suspects.

The law requires a doctor to carry out a forensic examination in the case
of every unnatural death.

Pornthip Rojanasunan, acting director of the Forensic Science Institute,
said the justice system could be jeopardised by a lack of explanation of
extra-judicial killings.

Many drug dealers had died since the Feb 1 launch of the government's
crusade against drugs.

Some were killed by police who said they were acting in self-defence, and
others by unknown assailants, although police attribute the murders to
scared drug gangs cleaning out their ranks.

Dr Pornthip said it was essential to identify the cause of death where
police were involved.

"It should be made clear whether the killing was done in self-defence or
not," she said.

The law required the presence of at least one doctor at the scene of an
unnatural death. This was intended to ensure justice for both the suspect
and the police by identifying the cause of the death, but few people were
willing to intervene in such cases. They worried about how the police would
react.

"As it is, doctors don't want to go out to the crime scene. They don't want
to have any problems with police," she said.

This could result in the judicial system being twisted and cases where
people had actually been murdered could be overlooked, Dr Pornthip said.

A rural hospital director who declined to be named said although doctors
felt uneasy about the government's war on drugs, they still needed to go to
the crime scene as required by law.

"All we can do is report on the location of the bullet and other wounds on
the body of the dead person.

"We can't say who did what and how the bullet hit the person, as is
intended by the law," he said.

Though no doctor will say so publicly, police have discouraged them from
being as open as the law requires.

In some cases witnesses said no fighting had taken place between the victim
and police before the victim's death.

This could give rise to complaints by family members that the victim was
killed unlawfully, but doctors were unable to perform checks to give their
own opinion of the cause of death.

Arak Wangvorachat, president of the Rural Doctors Society, said no members
had complained officially, but it was clear that many doctors were worried
about the limitations imposed on them.

Nakhon Phanom hospital director Amphon Hongngam said most doctors called to
witness crime scenes were not pathologists and could perform only limited
forensic checks.

Chiang Rai provincial health chief Thepnarumit Netnavin said doctors called
to a crime scene could not refuse.

"But in cases where there is only one doctor at a hospital we ask another
staff member to go to the crime scene instead," he said.

"Our priority must be to treat our patients."

Calling out women doctors at odd hours was a problem, because they needed
to be accompanied for safety reasons.

Tapanawong Tanguraiwan, of Phra Nangklao hospital in Nonthaburi, an
administrative member of the Medical Council, said no doctor wanted to make
forensic examinations because they already had a heavy workload and the
payments were very small.