Quantifying injuries. The assessment of total incapacity to work in forensic medicine

Abstract

A large part of forensic medicine in France consists in examining victims of assault in dedicated hospital departments called “unites medico-judiciaires” (UMJ) (medical-judiciary units). This article explores the assessment of injuries carried out by forensic pathologists upon the request of the prosecutor. This evaluation serves as a basis for the production of certificates, as well as for the calculation of the number of days of total incapacity to work (TIW). This article examines this calculation, which is highly variable, and analyzes the social determinants of forensic judgment on two distinct levels. It first shows that each UMJ strives to resolve the heterogeneity of opinions on TIW by implementing its own corrective measures. UMJs therefore problematize forensic medicine as a “report medicine,” grounded in harmonized practices. This article then analyzes how TIW is dealt with in medical consultations, and shows that forensic pathologists engage with a “medicine of violence.” In their medical practice, they come up against many diverse situations that require expertise, assemble and combine different frameworks at the intersection of the medical and the judicial, while assessing the victims’ particular bodies and words.