Majalah Kedokteran Bandung (Dec 2019)

Profile of Medicolegal Cases at Department of Forensics and Legal Medicine of Dr. Hasan Sadikin General Hospital Bandung, Indonesia

  • Noverika Windasari,
  • Naomi Yosiati

DOI
https://doi.org/10.15395/mkb.v51n4.1524
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 51, no. 4

Abstract

Read online

The increasing number of criminal cases in Indonesia indirectly affects the number of cases handled in the Department of Forensics and Legal medicine. Forensic specialists play an important role in criminal investigation process by conducting medical examination of the corpse. This study aimed to present the profile of the corpses examined in the Department Forensic and Legal Medicine of Dr. Hasan Sadikin General Hospital, Bandung, Indonesia, during 2013-2017. This was a descriptive retrospective study based on data of the corpses examined at the Department of Forensics and Legal Medicine of Dr. Hasan Sadikin General HospitalBandung, Indonesia, in 2013–2017. During the period of study, 1,692 corpses were handled with 1,258 males (74%), 430 females (25%), and 4 with unidentified sex (1%). most of the corpses were 46–65 years old (30%) and 26–45 years old (29%) when they died. There were 24 corpses with multiple cases, making a total number of cases of 1,716 cases with an average number of cases handled each month of 29 cases. From these cases, 1,303 cases (76%) only involved external examination and 413 cases (24%) underwent autopsy (external and internal examinations). The highest number of cases was seen in 2014 (432 cases, 25%). Regarding the type of cases, Death on Arrival (DOA) cases was the most frequently seen (28%), followed by traffic accidents (26%), sudden death (22%), infanticide (7%), train accident (5%), and murders (5%). The most frequent cause of death in murder cases was sharp trauma. In conclusion, DOA and traffic accident are the dominant cases handled at the Forensics and Legal Medicine Department of Dr. Hasan Sadikin General Hospital. The high number of DOA indicates the high number of patients who come late for treatment. This needs further studies to clarify the situation in order to avoid future DOA cases. In addition, the risk factors related to the death due to traffic accidents in Indonesia need to be determined to reduce the number of fatalities in traffic accidents.

Keywords