BUSINESS ORGANIZATION and forensic disciplines 1

Module Forensic Medicine

Preparatory subjects as per the didactic regulations

1. MEDICO-LEGAL TRAUMA ANALYSIS

• Mechanical trauma

  • Blunt force injuries: abrasions, contusions, lacerations, incised and incised-contused wounds, bone fractures
  • Sharp force injuries: stab wounds, incised wounds, combined stab-incised wounds
  • Major trauma: falls, crush injuries, road traffic accidents
  • Firearm injuries:
    • General aspects, shooting dynamics, effects on the target
    • Characteristics of single projectile wounds: entry wound features, distant vs. close/contact shots, wound tract, exit wound features
    • Characteristics of multiple projectile wounds (e.g., shotgun injuries)

• Forensic Asphyxiology

  • Mechanisms of asphyxia: smothering, hanging, strangulation, throttling, drowning, death in water
  • Postmortem changes due to immersion
  • Aspiration-related asphyxia, internal submersion

2. DEATH: PHENOMENOLOGY AND LEGISLATION

• Diagnosis of death
  • Cardiac arrest
  • Brain death
  • Medical board for death certification
  • Observation period
• Thanatology
  • Postmortem changes: consecutive and transformative phenomena (common and special)

3. CRIMES OF ASSAULT AND BODILY INJURY

• Assault (Art. 581 Penal Code)
• Personal injury (Art. 582 Penal Code)
  • Definition of disease: functional disorder, organic or psychological suffering, impact on social life
  • Classification of injuries:
    • Life-threatening illness
    • Illness or incapacity lasting more than 40 days
    • Permanent impairment of a sense or organ
    • Very serious injuries: incurable illness, loss of a sense or limb, mutilation, loss of organ function, infertility, severe speech impairment, permanent facial disfigurement
    • Negligent personal injury
    • Transmission of sexually transmitted diseases

4. MEDICAL PROFESSION AND DEONTOLOGY

• National Health Service (SSN)
• Medical and non-medical professions
• Legal authority to practice medicine
• Medical Code of Ethics
• Certificates and falsification
• Mandatory reporting and health-related notifications
• Medical records and documentation

5. FOUNDATIONS OF MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY

• Professional negligence
• Causal relationship in liability
• Law 24/2017
• Contractual vs. non-contractual liability

6. PATIENT CONSENT AND ADVANCE DIRECTIVES

• Law 219/2017
• Informed consent
• Advance healthcare directives (DAT)
• Compulsory medical treatment

7. MEDICO-LEGAL REPORTING AND JUDICIAL NOTIFICATION

• Report (Art. 365 Penal Code)
  • Definition and obligation
  • Cases requiring reporting: crimes prosecutable ex officio
  • Cases not requiring reporting
  • Relationship with criminal procedure code
  • Reporting and professional secrecy
  • Judicial complaint (notification)

8. PROFESSIONAL SECRECY AND PRIVACY PROTECTION

• Art. 622 Penal Code: breach of professional secrecy
• Definition and scope of professional secrecy
• Disclosure and transmission
• Legitimate reasons for disclosure
• Testimony obligations and exceptions

9. SEXUALITY AND PROCREATION

• Law 184/1978 (adoption and child protection)
• Infanticide and feticide
• Law 66/1996 (sexual violence)

10. FORENSIC TOXICOLOGY

• Definition of poison
• Medico-legal diagnosis of poisoning (in living and deceased individuals)
• Presidential Decree 309/1990
• Main drugs of abuse: toxic effects, mortality
• Alcohol: toxic effects, mortality, legal implications
• Alcohol and criminal responsibility
• Road safety laws: Articles 186 and 187 of the Highway Code
• Road homicide

11. FORENSIC GENETICS

• Personal identification
• General methodology
• Genetic identification and DNA testing
• Privacy and confidentiality in genetic data

Medicina legale e delle assicurazioni II edizione, Norelli-Buccelli-Fineschi, Piccin editore

J. Butler. Foundamental    of       forensic DNA typing. 2009, AP.

The test consists of an interview in which n. 3 questions concerning at least n. 3 different topics of the program (eg one on forensic pathology, one related to the medico-legal regulatory aspects, one on topics of genetics or forensic toxicology). The test allows to verify: i) the level of basic knowledge of the key principles of forensic medicine; ii) the ability to apply this knowledge to solve specific problems inherent in the fields of forensic medicine (problem-solving with independent judgment); iii) clarity of presentation; iv) the property of medical-scientific language.

For the attribution of the final grade, the following parameters will be taken into account:

Grade 29-30 with honours: the student has an in-depth knowledge of the main pathological entities, can promptly and correctly integrate and critically analyze the situations presented, autonomously solving even highly complex diagnostic problems; has excellent communication skills and master medical-scientific and anatomopathological language.

Grade 26-28: the student has a good knowledge of the main pathological entities, is able to integrate and analyze the situations presented in a critical and linear way, is able to solve complex diagnostic problems independently and presents the arguments clearly using language appropriate medical-scientific and anatomical-pathological;

Grade 22-25: the student has a good knowledge of the main pathological entities, even if limited to the main topics; she succeeds in integrating and analyzing in a critical but not always linear way the situations presented and she exposes the arguments quite clearly with a discrete property of language;

Grade 18-21: the student has minimal knowledge of the main pathological entities, has a modest ability to integrate and critically analyze the situations presented and expounds the arguments in a sufficiently clear way although the language properties are not very developed;

Failed exam: the student does not have the minimum required knowledge of the main teaching contents. The ability to use specific language is very little or no and is unable to independently apply the knowledge acquired.