Beja court is not renowned for moments of dark humour. That all changed this week when the director of psychiatry at Beja Hospital was asked to carry out a psychiatric evaluation of a dead body.
According to Ana Matos Pires, she received the official court letter in which a "psychiatric expert evaluation of a dead person" was requested, something that is physically impossible to achieve, as she explained in response.
The letter from the court also indicated the location of its requested evaluation, which at least it has noted correctly as the deceased’s last known location, his grave in the local cemetery.
Presiding Beja judge, José Lúcio, confessed he did not understand how this had happened and only found out about the request through the media, adding that "it is a mistake, for sure."
Despite denying al knowledge of the case in question, Judge Lúcio commented that, "An employee may have used a pre-defined template in Citius that was selected after a miscommunication. But I do not know. All I can say about the case is theoretical."
The request may yet make it in to the lexicon of foolish court happenings, perhaps most famously,
Q: Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?
A: All my autopsies are performed on dead people.
