OBJECTIVE: To explore the general characteristics of medical negligence in surgery in order to provide the reference for forensic practices. METHODS: One hundred and twelve cases of medical negligence in surgical department were retrospectively analyzed in Fada Institute of Forensic Medicine and Science from 2008 to 2010. RESULTS: The common types of medical negligence cases in the surgery were improper operation procedure (28.57%), failure of consent (26.79%), and inadequate monitoring (22.32%). The results of complications included disability or functional impairment (61.61%), death (31.25%) and transient impairment with no obvious adverse reactions (7.14%). The most common roles played by the medical negligence cases were minor role (26.79%), equal role (19.64%), and slight role (14.29%). CONCLUSION Significant attention should be paid to the operation procedure, consent, and monitoring. It should be cautious to not make assessment on involvement degree of medical negligence.
Cause of Death ; China ; Diagnostic Errors/statistics & numerical data* ; Expert Testimony/legislation & jurisprudence* ; Female ; Forensic Medicine ; Humans ; Informed Consent ; Intraoperative Complications/mortality* ; Male ; Malpractice/statistics & numerical data* ; Medical Errors/statistics & numerical data* ; Retrospective Studies ; Surgical Procedures, Operative

Dentists ; legislation & jurisprudence ; Discriminant Analysis ; Dissent and Disputes ; legislation & jurisprudence ; Expert Testimony ; legislation & jurisprudence ; Humans ; Liability, Legal ; Malpractice ; legislation & jurisprudence ; Quality Control

Criminal responsibility is divided into three types: full criminal responsibility, diminished criminal responsibility and criminal irresponsibility in China. In forensic psychiatric expertise, doctors often have different opinions about the responsibility in a given case because of lacking objective criteria. The evaluation of criminal responsibility is always unresolved problem in forensic psychiatric expertise. Application of these evaluation tools in forensic psychiatric expertise were reviewed in this article. The value of the tools were still controversial in the reliability and validity, but it is clear that these tools have the positive roles in ensuring the standardization and the uniformity of the forensic investigation.
Crime/psychology* ; Expert Testimony/legislation & jurisprudence* ; Forensic Psychiatry ; Humans ; Liability, Legal ; Mental Competency ; Mental Disorders/psychology* ; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales ; Social Responsibility

OBJECTIVE: To explore the cause of mistakes in medical tangles involving patient's death, and to analyze its key points in judicial appraisal. METHODS: Total 24 cases involving patient's death and multiple identifications were respectively analyzed and summarized based on common situations, distribution of departments, degree of responsibility and mistake analysis. RESULTS: It was showed that those medical tangles mostly originated from technical aspects, such as neglecting of latent symptoms, oversimplified management in clinical reception, poor cooperation between departments, and hesitation in confronting unexpected emergencies. In addition, some institutional mistakes, such as the performance of disclosure duty, opportunity of referral course, and deficiency of basal medical equipments, were the other aspects that caused these medical tangles. CONCLUSION The results mentioned above could provide some clues for the judicial appraisal of the similar medical tangles, and be helpful for avoiding their occurrence in future.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Cause of Death ; Child ; Expert Testimony/legislation & jurisprudence* ; Female ; Forensic Pathology ; Hospital Administration ; Humans ; Male ; Malpractice/legislation & jurisprudence* ; Medical Errors/prevention & control* ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: To seek and ascertain indicators that can be used in the civil competence assessment of the mental disorders involved in compensation of personal injury. METHODS: A retrospective study was made on the data related to the interviewee's mental status assessed by forensic experts during the period from 2003 to 2005 in Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice, P.R.China. The 6 indicators, including awareness of situation, factual understanding of issues, appreciation of likely consequences, rational manipulation of information, functioning in one's own environment, and communication of choice, were graded and statistically analyzed using SPSS 11.5 software. RESULTS: The 6 indicators correlated well with the assessment of forensic experts ,with the related coefficient between 0.632 and 0.876, and the inter-related coefficient among the 6 indicators between 0.575 and 0.911. CONCLUSION The 6 indicators could be used for the civil competence assessment and may also be taken as the basis for further standardization and quantification of civil competence.
Antisocial Personality Disorder/diagnosis* ; Compensation and Redress/legislation & jurisprudence* ; Expert Testimony/legislation & jurisprudence* ; Forensic Psychiatry ; Humans ; Insanity Defense ; Mental Competency/legislation & jurisprudence* ; Psychotic Disorders/diagnosis* ; Wounds and Injuries/economics*

OBJECTIVE: To determine the best time for assessing mental disability due to brain damage. METHODS: Ninety-three mental disabilities due to brain damage in traffic accidents were assessed and their follow-up studies were taken in different period after the brain injury: 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months. The patients' brain imaging, electroencephalogram (EEG) and detailed medical history were collected. Then to interview the patients' family members and to assess the patients' mental conditions with Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), Social Disability Screening Schedule (SDSS), and Activity of Daily Living Scale (ADL). Diagnosis and disability assessments were based on all of the above information. RESULTS: ADL and SDSS had good distinction between different levels of disability and different time. The overall sample demonstrated that there was no statistically significant difference between patients' ADL and SDSS averages in 9 and 12 months. For mild disability, there was no statistically significant difference between ADL and SDSS averages in 6, 9 and 12 months. For moderate disability, there was no statistically significant difference between ADL and SDSS in 9 and 12 months. And there was no statistically significant difference between ADL and SDSS averages in 6, 9 and 12 months for severe disability. CONCLUSION For mild disability, it is recommended to assess the mental disability 6 months after the injury, for moderate disability, it is 9 months. The statistics data recommended that the best assessment time for severe disability is 6 months after injury. However, our comprehensive analysis concludes that the suitable time is 9 months after injury.
Accidents, Traffic ; Adult ; Brain Injuries/complications* ; Disability Evaluation ; Expert Testimony/legislation & jurisprudence* ; Female ; Forensic Psychiatry ; Humans ; Male ; Mental Disorders/etiology* ; Middle Aged ; Time Factors

OBJECTIVE: To search the criteria for evaluating the civil competence of the mental disorders involved in contract dispute. METHODS: Data on the interviewee's mental status and the forensic expertise were collected retrospectively. And 6 indexes were selected and graded: awareness of situation, factual understanding of issues, appreciation of likely consequences, rational manipulation of information, functioning in one's own environment and communication of choice. All of the data were analyzed by SPSS. RESULTS: Fifty six cases were included and interviewee's civil competence was graded to three levels: full civil competence, diminished civil competence, and no civil competence. These cases included two types of contract: the real estate related contract (38 cases) and the labor related contract (14 cases). All of the 6 indexes were well correlated to the forensic expertise. The related coefficient was from 0.703 to 0.834, and the interrelated coefficient of the 6 items was also high, from 0.712 to 0.877. CONCLUSION It is feasible to divide the civil competence of the mental disorders into three grades. As the basis, these 6 indexes mentioned above are representative and can be applied in further standardized and quantified assessment of civil competence.
Contract Services/legislation & jurisprudence* ; Dissent and Disputes ; Expert Testimony ; Female ; Forensic Psychiatry ; Humans ; Informed Consent ; Male ; Mental Competency/psychology* ; Mental Disorders/psychology*

Testamentary capacity is one of the civil competences, it means that a natural person enjoys the capacity or qualification to establish testament and deal with his property. Recently, the cases of testamentary capacity assessment of the mentally disordered are increasing. This article firstly introduces the concepts of the testament as well as the testamentary capacity, and then summarizes the assessment standard of the testamentary capacity, by using the Banks v. Goodfellow case as a basis to make the standard criteria including: the understanding of the nature of a will and codicil, the knowledge of the general extent of one's assets, the knowledge of the natural object of one's bounty, the understanding of the impact of the distribution of the assets of the estate, and the absence of a delusion specifically affecting the distribution of the estate. The impact factors of the testamentary capacity, including dementia, mood disorder, schizophrenia, alcohol, drug, and undue influence, etc., are summarized. Lastly, the related assessment tools such as the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Clock-Drawing Test, and the Testament Definition Scale are introduced briefly.
Alcoholism/psychology* ; Dementia/psychology* ; Expert Testimony/standards* ; Forensic Psychiatry ; Humans ; Mental Competency/standards* ; Mental Disorders/psychology* ; Mental Status Schedule ; Wills/legislation & jurisprudence*

Dentists ; legislation & jurisprudence ; Dissent and Disputes ; legislation & jurisprudence ; Expert Testimony ; Liability, Legal

Expert Testimony ; Humans ; Malpractice ; legislation & jurisprudence