Forensic Medicine, also known as legal medicine, medical jurisprudence or judicial medicine, is the branch of medicine that aims to help the patient in the field of justice; also, it aims to help justice in its action in the affectations to the human being that require a delimitation in the legal framework. In the latter case, it acts to improve the understanding of what happens or has happened to the individual, as well as, if necessary, to repair the damage caused.
In short, forensic medicine contributes to help the delimitation of the damage suffered in or by the subject and to help the Justice to delimit the quantification of the damage for its most adequate reparation.
Far from the popular belief that the forensic doctor is dedicated to perform autopsies, he can work in very different areas. The specialists in Forensic Medicine develop their daily work in the delimitation of pathologies and very diverse injuries among which stand out:
– assessment of injuries resulting from accidents of all kinds: traffic, work, non-work, domestic violence, sexual violence, civil and testamentary disabilities
– occupational disability
– determination of the occupational or non-occupational contingency of a disease process
– assessment of psychiatric hospitalizations.
Areas of Forensic Medicine
Forensic Medicine is divided into three main areas:
– area of all processes in which injuries have been sustained
– area closely linked to psychiatry
– specific area of autopsies
Recently, this medical specialty has begun to contribute to the mediation between the different parties in a process with legal connotations.
What does a forensic examination consist of?
The forensic examination varies depending on each specific area.
In the area of injuries and accidents, the forensic examination tries to delimit the damage suffered by the person, as well as the mechanism and origin of the damage. In other words, the forensic doctor helps to determine the way in which the damage or injury occurred, the characteristics of the damage, the repercussions of this damage and the quantification of the damage so that it can be repaired as far as possible. It also determines the assessment of the possible disability and functional limitation of the person as well as its labor, social and legal repercussions.
In the psychiatric area, the forensic doctor helps the justice system to assess the processes that affect the cognitive and volitional capacities of the person in very diverse processes such as: assessment of testamentary capacity, annulment of wills, assessment of the legal context of psychiatric internment, incapacitation, assessment of disabilities, harassment at work or school bullying, among others.
Finally, in the area of autopsies, the doctor’s task is, among others, to verify the death of a person, as well as to analyze, study and determine the causes, natural or violent, and the mechanism of the way in which death has occurred. It is also responsible for identifying victims, legalizing the process of death (e.g., death certificates), embalming, and removal of pacemakers and prostheses.