ABSTRACT
Background and Objectives: Medico legal cases are essential component of medical practice and comprise most important constituent of emergencies. The reporting of such cases is imperative to recognize their socioeconomic burden on any country. The present study was conducted to scrutinize different categories of medico legal cases and characteristics of the victims at casualty department of tertiary care hospital Rawalpindi. The objective of the study was to find out the frequency of various categories of medico legal cases and major characteristics of victims at tertiary care hospital, Rawalpindi
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study on 3105 registered cases in medico legal record of the casualty department of Benazir Bhutto hospital, Rawalpindi from January 2015 to December 2015. The hospital is located on the main road in densely populated central area of the city. The data was collected on age, sex, month-wise distribution of various medico legal cases, weapon inflicting the injury, blunt trauma or physical assault, firearm injuries and road traffic accidents. The data thus obtained was analyzed using SPSS; observations were presented in tables and graphs
Results: Out of all 3105 registered medico legal cases, reported cases caused by Road Traffic Accident 1230 [40%] followed by blunt injury or physical assault 966 [32%] cases, 19% by sharp weapons, 5% by poisoning, and 4% by firearm injuries. In our study out of 3105 cases, almost three quarter of victims [73%] were below 30 years of age, with a decreasing frequency beyond this age, males were predominantly inflicted 2516 [81%] as compared to females 589 [19%]. The reported road traffic accidents cases from urban areas were high [74%] as compared to those from rural locality [37%]. In cases of blunt trauma, sharp weapon injuries and firearm injuries, there was a huge preponderance of victims from rural areas [65%], [62%] and 61% respectively, with urban cases constituting less
Conclusion: Road traffic injuries are one of the foremost causes of medico legal cases followed by blunt trauma and sharp weapon injuries. The emerging medico legal cases are neglected epidemic in most of the developing countries comprising a considerable public health problem
Subject(s)
Humans , Female , Male , Adult , Middle Aged , Aged , Tertiary Care Centers , Medical Records , Disaster Victims/legislation & jurisprudence , Accidents, Traffic , Emergency TreatmentABSTRACT
La ciencia odontológica cuenta con diversas metodologías a la hora de brindar auxilio a la Justicia, tanto en la resolución de casos criminales como en procedimientos de índole civil y laboral. La odontología legal requiere de un trabajo interdisciplinario con las otrasespecialidades odontológicas. En ese contexto, el rol capital del perito odontólogo es contribuir al esclarecimiento de la identidad de unapersona. El diente es susceptible de variantes fisiológicas y patológicas en sus estructuras, como así también estigmas inherentes a los tratamientos restauradores, hechos que confiere información dental que individualiza a una persona. Las piezas dentarias pueden ser utilizadas como un arma en determinadas circunstancias, brindando información relevante sobre los caracteres odontológicos de la víctimay/o del agresor, pudiendo entonces desempeñar la odontología legal un importante rol en la investigación de situaciones de agresión sexual yabuso en todas las edades. El odontólogo en su tarea asistencial tiene la responsabilidad de labrar y documentar de manera fiel y completasu devenir profesional, pudiendo ser requerido por las autoridades encargadas de administrar Justicia en casos de responsabilidad profesional, negligencia, fraude, abuso, e identificación de restos humanos.
Dental science has various methodologies when providing aid to justice, both in solving criminal cases and civil procedures and labor issues.Legal Dentistry requires interdisciplinary work with other dental specialties. In this context, the principal role of the dentist expert is helpclarify the identity of a person. The tooth is subject to physiological and pathological variations in their structures, as well as inherentstigmas restorative treatments, facts which confers dental individualized information to a person. The teeth can be used as a weapon incertain circumstances, providing relevant information about dental characteristics of the victim and/or perpetrator can then LegalDentistry play an important role in investigating cases of sexual assault and abuse in all the ages. The dentist in their care task isresponsible for faithfully document and complete their professional procedure that may be required by the authorities responsible foradministering justice in cases of professional liability, negligence, fraud, abuse, and identification of human remains.