An Indian High Court has ordered the country’s doctors to write prescriptions in capital letters, declaring that “a legible medical prescription is a fundamental right”. 

The directive was issued by Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri during a case involving rape and forgery allegations, when he noticed a medicolegal report prepared by a government doctor, according to the BBC.

“It shook the conscience of this court as not even a word or a letter was legible,” Justice Puri wrote, calling the situation “shocking” in the digital age.

Justice Puri said that unclear prescriptions could mean “the difference between life and death” and ordered doctors to write all scripts in clear capital letters until prescriptions were fully digitised.