Archiwum medycyny sa̧dowej i kryminologii
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The author addresses several issues concerning the current condition of forensic medicine and further trends of its development. One can believe that the split and the crisis of forensic medicine may result from the enfeeblement of its institutional character caused by changes to legal proceedings requirements. Disintegration seems to be also caused by strong subspecialty tendencies resulting from the progress and the increasing specialization in individual biological sciences forming a joint paradigm of forensic medicine, i.e. medico-legal toxicology, hemogenetics, histopathology and classic forensic medicine.
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Arch Med Sadowej Kryminol · Apr 2007
[On the causes of medical errors in life-threatening conditions--a medico-legal assessment based on the material of the chair and Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, collected between 2000 and the end of June, 2006].
The authors analyzed the medico-legal opinions on medical management issued by the Chair and Department of Forensic Medicine Katowice between 2000 and the end of June 2006. Among 101 cases, in which medical errors were recognized, in 82 instances inappropriate medical management was associated with direct life-threatening conditions, such as acute cardiac syndrome, cerebrocranial injuries, cerebral an aortic aneurysms, pulmonary embolisms, acute abdominal diseases, such as perforated gastric and duodenal ulcers, appendicitis, post-traumatic rupture of the spleen, and acute metabolic disorders. The majority of errors was diagnostic in character and involved the staff of emergency services, admission rooms and detoxification centers. The investigators also drew attention to factors affecting the degree of risk of medical error commission and the most common causes of inappropriate medical in life-threatening conditions.
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Arch Med Sadowej Kryminol · Apr 2007
[Differentiation possibilities in posttraumatic neuropsychiatric disorders in medico-legal certification].
This paper is a continuation of the previous work entitled "Difficulties in estimation of posttraumatic neuropsychiatric disorders for the purpose of criminal and civil law proceedings" presented during the 5th National Symposium "Days of Medical Certification", Poznan 2005. Referring to the then mentioned problem, the authors present in a greater detail the possibilities of objectivization of claims using simple psychiatric and psychological diagnostic tools
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Arch Med Sadowej Kryminol · Apr 2007
[Limitations in medico-legal appraisal of sobriety or alcohol intoxication in drivers and the use of retrospective calculation. Practical comments based on an analysis of the files investigated in the chair of forensic medicine, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, in the years 2000-2004].
In case of a driver who was involved in and survived a traffic accident, the analysis of expired air or blond sampling for alcohol determination is usually done within a shorter or longer time interval after the event. Thus, that the obtained analytical results are to be referred to the time when the examination or sampling was done, whereas the courts are interested in the driver's sobriety of alcohol intoxication at the critical moment, i.e. at the moment of the accident. Knowledge of alcohol toxicology allows for performing some simplified calculations to determine estimated blood alcohol concentration levels similar to those at the critical moment by using the so-called retrospective analysis. The authors performed a statistical analysis of the court files investigated at the Chair of Forensic Medicine, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, in the years 2000-2004, especially focusing on difficulties encountered in cases of alcohol intoxication in perpetrators of traffic collisions.