Forensic significance of X-ray data in the definition prescription of diaphyseal fractures: a case from expert practice

Abstract

ABSTRACT.Background:When conducting a forensic medical examination of victims, accused persons, etc., it is important to determine the prescription of fractures, which allows the expert to immediately determine the causal relationship of the skeletal injury found in the sub-expert with the events described in the decision on the appointment of a forensic medical examination, especially in cases when the examination is carried out according to medical documents, there is, for one reason or another, the possibility of a forensic medical examination of the sub-expert, when there is concealment or distortion of the circumstances of the incident, and the investigating authorities, nevertheless, need to make a decision on the case and establish the truth. Often, medical documents, especially in cases of a single request for medical help, do not contain enough information about the clinical picture of the fracture, the description of the local status is scarce or absent at all. In such cases, one of the most important sources of information for the expert is radiography data (radiographs in electronic form or on X-ray film, computed tomograms), the study of which allows the expert to draw conclusions about the mechanism of injury and the prescription of fractures.The study of literary sources on this topic did not reveal the exact criteria for determining the prescription of fractures based on the study of the results of X-ray examination methods in the forensic aspect.Description of the expert case. The description of a case from practice is given: in our practice, there was a case when the fractures found in the subexpert did not correspond to the events of the incident described in the resolution, these fractures were not regarded by the surgeon as "old" and unrelated to the specified circumstances of the case. The examination of the presented radiographs allowed the forensic medical expert to determine the time frame of the fractures detected and establish the absence of a causal relationship of this injury with the events specified in the resolution. Conclusion. The analysis of this expert case allows us to come to the conclusion about the importance of examining the radiography data by the forensic medical expert himself in the aspect of determining the prescription of fractures.