Legal Medicine

The student must know the medico-legal problems that arise in all phases of the professional action. He must know the basic legal aspects that govern relations between the doctor, the patient and all institutions.
He must know how a patient's information is performed to obtain informed consent; must know the laws that regulate these problems also for the relationship with family members and with the trustee: also for the advanced health care directives (L.219/17). He must also know the legal aspects of professional secrecy.
The student must know when and how information should be sent to the health or judicial authorities: compulsory medical complaint (causes of death, injuries, occupational diseases, infectious diseases, abortions, deformed babies, vaccinations, venereal diseases etc.), report to the prosecutor's office. He must therefore know what 's the role of a public officier.
The student must know the legal characteristics of the medical certificate and the medical record (handwritten or electronic) and the crimes related to the compilation.
The student must know the cases where a doctor can have a medico-legal or judiciary function: expertise, court appointed appraisals, legal opinion, arbitrary arbitration.
He must know the problems and the techniques for personal identification in the living and in the death bodies with contribution of forensic anthropology and forensic odontology. He must understand all the biological functions that give the legal personality, civilian capabilities and imputability (including the effects of mental illness, alcoholism and drugs) and understand how they take effects on the relationship between doctor and patient (interdiction, incapacitation, administrative support).
He will have to understand the problem of the causal relationship in the legal field and know his theories; he must know the pathophysiology and characteristics of the lesions studied in forensic pathology: traumatic, asphyxia, firearm, cold weapon, electric, thermal, baric and nuclear energy; also the effects of poison, drugs and forensic toxicology techniques for studying in the living and in the death bodies as well as the laws concerning these. In medico legal thanatology he must be clear about the legal concept of death and know the biology of the death body in primaries, bio-thanatological and transformatives phenomena.
To know how to behave in cases of clinical observation of crimes he must study the psychological elements of crime and the main crimes against the person: homicide, personal injuries, battery, infanticide, female genital mutilations, abortion, sexual offences and their automatic prosecution.
For knowledges about legal medicine in civil law the student must know the fundamentals about compensation for the damages in person derived from medical malpractice but also the biological and medical problems in marriage and in challenge of paternity.
Medical liability. The student must therefore know in detail all the legal rules and interpretations of the jurisprudence on the evaluation of medical malpractice in criminal and in civil law. The right of redress of the medical institutions against the doctor must know. From these principles he must understand the compulsory and optional insurances in professional activity.
The learner must know how social insurance is organized for work accidents, professional diseases, old age, seniority and disability; and also the organization of social security system (civil disability) with the measures for the obligatory job placement, carer and attendance allowance.
He must have information on the laws on removal and transportation of organs, medically assisted fertilization, clinical trials and gender reassignment.

At the end of the course the student must demonstrate to have autonomy in the decisions when there is a legal medical problem.
. He must make correct information to obtain a valid informed consent; he must have correct relationship with trustee and family members. he must correctly document the informed consent in all circumstances of the professional exercise.
. He must behave correctly with professional secrecy and make reports to the health authority and to the judicial authority according to the laws (causes of death, injuries, occupational diseases, infectious diseases, abortions, deformed babies, vaccinations, venereal diseases etc.).
. He will be able to complete a medical certificate and the medical record (handwritten or electronic).
. He will rightly assess a patient's condition when they have an influence on civilian capabilities or imputability and he must have a right relationship with legal guardian, curator, support administrator. He must orient himself in the event of judicial expertise, court appointed appraisals, legal opinion, arbitrary arbitration.
. He must know the medical data that are useful for personal identification.
. He will diagnose the main signs of mechanical, electrical, thermal, baric injuries and in the suspicion of poisoning, alcoholism or drugs.
. He must be able to ascertain the death of a person in all cases envisaged by the law and with the planned ways.
. The student must behave exactly in the presence of a crime against the person according to the provisions of the criminal law (homicide, personal injuries, battery, infanticide, female genital mutilations, abortion, sexual offences).
. He must understand all the facts that may be involved in compensation to a person and give the right advice to patients when there are paternity problems or health issues with impact on contracts.
. He must adopt what is necessary to reduce the risk and professional conflict, even knowing the limits of defensive medicine; and know all the possibilities of insurance for professional liability in criminal and civil law and in accounting law.
. He must know how to do all the medical documents well for the patient with work accidents, professional diseases, old age, seniority and disability pension and in social security system (civil disability).
. He must provide all the right information to the patient on medically assisted fertilization and gender reassignment; and must behave correctly in all cases of collaboration in medical trials.