Sex-related risks of trauma in medieval to early modern Denmark, and its relationship to change in interpersonal violence over time.

Skeletons from three Danish cemeteries, Sortebrødre, Tirup, and St. Mikkel, that collectively held 822 adults (>15 years) and spanned the medieval to early modern periods (ca. AD 1100-1610) show that men, in general, experienced more bone fractures than women. Men were three times more likely to have healed cranial vault and ulnar shaft fractures than women, with many of these bones presumably broken in interpersonal violence. More women, however, broke distal radii, presumably often the result of falls. Both sexes suffered more cranial fractures than modern Danes, with the proportional difference for men and women being about the same. The difference in cranial trauma frequencies between historic-period and modern Danes has implications for a decline over the past several centuries in interpersonal violence that scholars in other disciplines have inferred from historical sources.

[Expert commission for questions of physician malpractice. More than 10 years service for the patient and physician--report from the Südbaden District Chamber of Medicine]. / Gutachterkommission für Fragen ärztlicher Haftpflicht. Mehr als zehn Jahre im Dienst von Patient und Arzt--Bericht aus dem Bereich der Bezirksärztekammer Südbaden.

The provision of an objective expertise on medical practice by an expert commission and arbitration board aims to make it easier for the patient to prove a justified claim, and for the physician to reject unfounded accusations made against him. A retrospective consideration of the activities of the expert commission on questions of medical liability at the Medical Society of Baden-Württemberg for the region covered by the District Medical Society Südbaden shows that the expert commission is being approached progressively more often. The medical discipline most frequently involved is surgery. Although claims are more frequently made against hospital doctors than against doctors in private practice, the latter are more likely to be guilty of maltreatment. Iatrogenic mistakes made during routine treatments can lead to serious consequences for the patient. An analysis of the activities of the expert commissions can open up new possibilities for quality control in medical care and further medical education.