Enquadramento médico-legal

Are There Any Differences in Road Traffic Injury Outcomes between Older and Younger Adults? Setting the Grounds for Posttraumatic Senior Personal Injury Assessment Guidelines

“…The expert should perform a personalised and comprehensive evaluation, including functional and situational complaints and the results of the body examination [ 42 ]. The confrontation of the findings between them and with the mechanism of the trauma, injuries, treatments and clinical complications may orientate the expert to determine the date of consolidation and the causality link [ 63 ]. However, we consider that the expert should always have in mind that in older person cases, this should not be enough, and deep information about the previous state should be sought, as well as a multidimensional/multidisciplinary examination in loco performed, particularly in more severe or complex cases.…”

“…In the case of older people, each of these assumptions is a challenge in our daily clinical practice, but the most difficult will often be relative to the previous state. Fundamentally, the discussion of the anatomical–clinical consistency between the trauma and sequelae/outcomes will mean that the expert will be able to explain why he or she accepts the nexus with some outcomes and not with others [ 63 ]. For this, we advise the experts to always consider the victim in his or her real and specific life context, as well as to be aware of the current knowledge regarding the effect of trauma on the ageing process, which can lead to unexpected and serious developments.…”