A five-year retrospective study on the status of new forensic cases at Davao Mental Hospital from January 1, 1998 to December 31, 2002
- Author:
Calud-Dela-on Marjorie
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- From:
The Philippine Journal of Psychiatry
2011;33(1):29-
- CountryPhilippines
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Objective:
The purpose of this retrospective study was to describe the status of the forensic cases referred to Davao Mental Hospital from January 1, 1988 to December 31, 2002.
Methods:
The populations that were included were new forensic cases that were initially seen as either outpatient or inpatient. The charts of the eligible subjects were reviewed and the data was collected, collated, and analyzed.
Results:
Of the 386 new forensic cases, only 249 were eligible for the study. The findings with regards to age and sex of those forensic cases were consistent with other studies done abroad. The data on socio-demographic profiles, clinical findings, and legal aspects were provided. The issue on possible predisposing risk for criminality as well as the relationship between mental retardation and crimes were discussed. The topics regarding diagnosis "no psychopathology at the time of examination" and "no final diagnosis" were evaluated and came up with recommendation to avoid coming up with the same findings in the future. The reporting system by the attending physician was also undertaken and the drawbacks for the limited number of complete psychiatric report as well as the inadequate corroborative information that are necessary for report making were tackled. The availability of the written court decision was taken into consideration as this will help in systematizing and debulking the records on file.
Conclusion:
This study showed that there were numerous forensic cases on file and there was a pressing need to update its status. There were several recommendations directed to the different sectors that catered to the mentally ill with forensic cases against them.
