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Forensic and Legal Medicine in the Third Millennium

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A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Forensic Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 3289

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Pierpaolo Di Lorenzo

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Guest Editor

Department of Advanced Biomedical Science - Legal Medicine Section, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80131 Naples, Italy
Interests: medical responsibility; medical ethics; personal damage; social medicine; forensic odontology

Prof. Dr. Massimo Niola

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Guest Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The recent technological advances in medicine and engineering have facilitated the acquisition of new knowledge and created new opportunities in different research fields of forensic sciences.

Such technological progress allows some strongly debated issues (such as a more precise identification of the time of death or precise personal identification using algorithms) to be confronted and solved, while also posing new medico-legal, ethical, and deontological issues that healthcare professionals will inevitably face (such as in the case of the use of telemedicine and artificial intelligence or the themes of the end or beginning of life).

This Special Issue seeks to invite the scientific community to publish contributions, in which the ethical and medical legal issues of new technical-scientific advances of the various fields of forensic sciences are discussed.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

forensic toxicology;
forensic genetics;
forensic pathology;
forensic anthropology;
forensic psychopathology;
criminalistics;
social medicine;
personal damage;
medical responsibility;
clinical ethics.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Pierpaolo Di Lorenzo
Prof. Dr. Massimo Niola
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

legal medicine
forensics sciences
autopsy
forensic genetics and genomics
technology and forensics
telemedicine
artificial intelligence
malpractice
personal damage
bioethics

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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8 pages, 261 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Retrospective Analysis of Familicide in Latium (Italy): A Criminological Profile of the Victims and Offenders Involved in 29 Cases and a Comparison with the Literature

by Alessandro Mauro Tavone, Giulia Ceccobelli, Giorgia Piizzi, Maria Chiara Clericò, Raimondo Vella, Naomi Romaniello, Gabriele Giuga, Saverio Potenza and Gian Luca Marella

Healthcare 2023, 11(17), 2448; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11172448 - 1 Sep 2023

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Abstract

Familicide, an extreme form of domestic violence where one family member kills another, is a complex criminological issue. We analyzed autopsy files from the Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata (1995–2022), to understand familicide better. The study focused on victim profiles, offender characteristics, and case dynamics. From 29 analyzed cases, 31 victims emerged, with 2 instances of double homicide. The perpetrators were mostly male (79.31%) and the victims were primarily female (54.84%). The familial ties ranged from parent–child to siblings and spouses. A significant number of crimes happened at private residences (70.97%) using bladed weapons (48.39%), with the injuries being concentrated on the head and chest. Half of the cases showed struggle signs, and 24.14% of the perpetrators had identifiable psychiatric disorders, which often served as the motive. Post-crime actions included self-reporting, suicide attempts, and successful suicides. A comparison with literature confirmed the typical familicide offender as a middle-aged male with potential social stressors and a history of domestic violence, with the victims often being female family members. Mental health conditions including depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia significantly impacted these events. These findings underline the need for customized approaches to comprehending and preventing familicide. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forensic and Legal Medicine in the Third Millennium)

17 pages, 656 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How Much Is an Abortion Worth? Was a Human “Not Formed”? An Italian Proposal

by Maricla Marrone, Benedetta Pia De Luca, Fortunato Pititto, Ignazio Grattagliano, Nicola Laforgia, Antonella Vimercati and Alessandro Dell’Erba

Healthcare 2023, 11(13), 1948; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11131948 - 5 Jul 2023

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Abstract

Introduction: “Human capital” is defined as an integration of innate skills and knowledge acquired by investing in the formation of an individual; it is a real “capital” that pays off in the long term. In the Italian legal system, a human being is recognised as a “person” from the moment of birth. This determines the acquisition of the personal rights of an individual. Necessarily, therefore, by law, a fetus does not own such rights; nevertheless, it has an innate “potential” to acquire such rights after birth. Objective: In Italian jurisprudence, in general, the damage from a loss of a parental relationship is justified by the condition of existential emptiness caused in the family by the loss of a child. Compensation for this damage in the event of abortion due to third-party responsibility presents a non-uniform recognition in the judgements of the Italian courts, but in any case, it is almost always recognised with limitations since the emotional relationship with the lost individual is defined only in terms of “potential”. Consequently, in this matter, at least two questions can be raised: (i) Is the economic estimate of abortion based on objective and standardised criteria, or is it heavily influenced by subjective evaluation? (ii) Is it possible to find standard criteria that may act as guidelines to quantify the loss of that human capital “in progress”? Methodology: The authors try to answer these questions by analysing the different approaches to this issue adopted at an international level. Conclusions: In conclusion, the authors propose homogeneous criteria to quantify the damage caused by abortion. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forensic and Legal Medicine in the Third Millennium)

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14 pages, 1495 KiB

Open AccessPerspective

Artificial Intelligence in Evaluation of Permanent Impairment: New Operational Frontiers

by Roberto Scendoni, Luca Tomassini, Mariano Cingolani, Andrea Perali, Sebastiano Pilati and Piergiorgio Fedeli

Healthcare 2023, 11(14), 1979; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11141979 - 8 Jul 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1066

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) span multiple disciplines, including the medico-legal sciences, also with reference to the concept of disease and disability. In this context, the International Classification of Diseases, Injuries, and Causes of Death (ICD) is a standard for the classification of diseases and related problems developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), and it represents a valid tool for statistical and epidemiological studies. Indeed, the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) is outlined as a classification that aims to describe the state of health of people in relation to their existential spheres (social, family, work). This paper lays the foundations for proposing an operating model for the use of AI in the assessment of impairments with the aim of making the information system as homogeneous as possible, starting from the main coding systems of the reference pathologies and functional damages. Providing a scientific basis for the understanding and study of health, as well as establishing a common language for the assessment of disability in its various meanings through AI systems, will allow for the improvement and standardization of communication between the various expert users. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forensic and Legal Medicine in the Third Millennium)

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