THE MEDICOLEGAL EVALUATION OF OCCUPATIONAL INJURY CASES APPLIED TO EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT OF CUMHURIYET UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

Abstract

Work accidents are of great concern to society because they directly affect the health and life of workers and the production process of the enterprise, as well as creating significant social and economic costs for workers, employers, the country's economy and society. In this study, the total of 1.048 occupational injury cases who applied to Emergency Department of Cumhuriyet University Faculty of Medicine between 2011-2015 was evaluated. In this study; frequency, chi-square and percentage tests were used in the analysis of data. 1.034 (98.7%) of the cases was male and the rest was female. The cases were more often between the ages of 25-34 (36.2%). 64.2% of applications to emergency were occured between 08:01-17:00. The accidents were more often at metal/machine industry (20.8%). It was seen that it was not mentioned whether the injuries could be resolved with simple medical intervention in 84.4% of the reports. There wasn’t an alcohol evaluation at most (92%) of the cases. Most of the injuries were located at upper extremity (39.6%). The most observed lesion was soft tissue damage (35.3%). 624 of the cases (59.6%) were discharged after treatment in emergency department. It was determined that the number of cases applied to the Department of Forensic Medicine by the prosecutor's office or court decision after occupational accident was 29 (2.8%); in 79.3% of cases, the injuries could be resolved with simple medical intervention; in 24.1%, there was life-threatening; in 3.4%, there was declining function; in 6.9%, there was loss of function. Inadequacies in the writing of forensic reports will cause serious legal problems. In addition, it was concluded that it is important to raise awareness for all healthcare personnel, especially emergency physicians, and to provide up-to-date training for forensic case reporting and proper-complete preparation of forensic reports.