Medico-Legal Journal最新文献

Airbags have significantly reduced the severity of injuries sustained in vehicular crashes. The most common injuries are minor abrasions, contusions, etc., but severe and fatal thermal burns and craniofacial fractures may occur nonetheless. We report a rare case of atypical airbag injuries suffered by the front seat occupant of a car following airbag deployment in a high-velocity frontal collision. The injuries appeared to be a combination of thermal burns, chemical burns and mechanical injuries. A detailed evaluation of the mechanism of such injuries is needed in order to devise preventive strategies and avoid their recurrence.

India's doctors are demanding effective protection against escalating levels of violence against healthcare workers. There are Acts in several states aimed at the prevention of violence against healthcare workers and health establishments but conviction rates are very low. Following the recent rape and murder of a trainee doctor in a government hospital, the demand for a central law to protect healthcare workers has intensified. But would this be effective?

Pain conditions can be challenging; nociplastic pain, defined as pain that cannot be sufficiently explained by structural/anatomical changes, is newly categorised as the third pain mechanism. Nociplastic pain complaints are subjective, often accompanied by symptoms of fatigue, sleep and mood disturbance and cognitive difficulties with no diagnostic biomarker or reliable measurement of severity. Medico-legal challenges include attribution of causation after an alleged triggering event, assessment of severity, and reported functional impairment. This review considers nociplastic pain in regard to the musculoskeletal system with focus on causation and temporality of the pain condition and impairment. We hope that this overview will provide a better understanding of these challenging pain conditions.

An acid attack is a deliberate act of violence. Sulphuric acid is thrown at a person's face and body with the intention of harming and disfiguring the victim. Sulphuric acid is a dangerous weapon which can cause very serious injuries including severe skin damage, blindness, significant disfigurement and/or permanent disability. We report the case of Ioanna, a 34-year-old woman who was attacked with vitriol by a jealous woman in May 2020. Following her admission to hospital, where Ioanna was an inpatient for 85 days, she underwent nine operations. Since her discharge she has undergone ten more, with further interventions likely in the future. In addition, she has undergone various treatments and procedures to restore her skin. Ioanna's courage and strength has inspired thousands of young children and adults who cope with a variety of health problems.

In Croatia, the model of obstetrics-midwifery management of childbirth in maternity hospitals is still in effect, and this is how > 99% of Croatian women give birth. However, in my view, midwives are still not sufficiently educated for completely independent work notwithstanding their university education. The Law on Midwifery defined the role of the midwife in home birth without, however, setting out other organisational-communication and professional provisions. Then it began with sporadic midwifery home births of a few per year, which grew quite rapidly, especially with the impact of the Covid-19 virus pandemic, to about 100 out of a total of about 38,000 births that are performed annually in the Republic of Croatia in maternity hospitals. Since the start of planned home births many bad perinatal outcomes have been recorded in hospital maternity wards who have admitted women after such deliveries. These include puerperal sepsis, protracted labour of several days, neglected protracted labour with perinatal asphyxia and aspiration of meconium amniotic fluid and resuscitation of the newborn (who later developed cerebral palsy), severe postpartum haemorrhage with obstetric shock and postpartum hysterectomy, episiotomy infection, and stillbirth at term pregnancy. Therefore, planned home birth in Croatia should now be regarded as an unsafe birth in extraordinary circumstances and the person who takes charge of it must be professionally prepared, educated and have numerous social skills. Most Croatian gynaecologists and obstetricians give support to midwives in their efforts to be professional and independent when at work, including the controlled and legal implementation of the planned home birth. We unreservedly support self-aware midwives to maintain their profession as highly ethical and professional as possible above the wishes of non-professionals who call for autonomy, so that we do not have to discuss such problems of malpractice of Croatian midwifery in the 21st century.

The restraint of patients is one of the important aspects of the regime in psychiatric hospitals. It has been an issue in hospitals over the years because it interferes with the personal freedom of patients. Most recently it was one of the matters raised in X NHS Foundation Trust v RH [2024] EWCOP 150. This paper aims to add to the awareness of it by looking at what it means, the forms it may take and the justifications for it. It is concluded that restraint of patients is controversial but reasonable and necessary at times in the interests of the patient's own health/safety or that of others.