Legal guidelines derived from forensic medicine

Abstract

The field of Forensic Medicine is outlined by the author, stressing that it involves much more than Thanatology: 80% of the criminal investigations of Forensic Medicine Institutes are performed in live human beings (physical harm, sexual crimes, drunknness, etc) and only 10% in corpses. Emphasis is givem to the legal guidelines derived from Forensic Medicine, pointing out that its field of action is the overlapping area between Medicine (man's health) and Law (society rules' science). In reviewing the literature, the author adds that Forensic Medicine was born as a result of Law needing to have medical and biological knowledge so as to correctly apply the rules. This support, however, is underestimaed by many prefessionals who consider Forensic Medicine as a field related only to death and, according to the author, this distorted view is partly caused by the Medicine (where Forensic Medicine is a mandatory subject) and Law undergraduate courses, as their programs stress this side of the field of action of Forensic Medicine.