Most doctors shy away from testifying in court. It is regarded with dread and anxiety when one is faced with a subpoena to appear in court for a case one has treated in the emergency room. But the law requires that we validate or negate the claims of patients, dead or alive, due to accidents, homicide or negligence.
Many cases are purely to correct birth certificate entries. I’ve seen many instances of young single women who put their mothers’ names as the mother of an illegitimate child born out of wedlock to save face. When these single mothers emigrate and try to petition their children, they face a roadblock since they are not listed as the biological mothers of the petitioned persons. Immigration authorities then request DNA testing to show proof of motherhood.
Other men are anxious to prove their paternity. One case was that of a previously convicted child molester, a prominent politician who wanted to prove his virility by begetting a child by a 16-year-old girl. The audacity! If he was charged with child abuse or statutory rape, the results of the paternity case would send him back to jail. Go figure!