Dhaka, Oct. 1 -- A high court in India has said legible medical prescriptions are a "fundamental right" for patients, underscoring the potential for misinterpretation to become a matter of life and death.

The ruling came from the Punjab and Haryana High Court during a bail hearing in a case unrelated to the written word.

According to the BBC, Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri was reviewing a medico-legal report concerning a case of alleged rape, cheating and forgery, but found the government doctor's report and a corresponding two-page prescription to be completely incomprehensible.

Justice Puri wrote in his order that "not even a word or a letter was legible", adding that it was "shocking that government doctors are still writing prescri...