Epidemiological case survey of medical malpractice in some medical and surgical specialties.

According to the common view held by the general public, doctors can never make professional mistakes, as if by virtue of their profession they were bound to be infallible. Moreover, when mistakes do occur in the medical field they are seen in a personal light, being attributed to an individual professional figure who is expected to answer for them in both the penal and the civil field. In this paper, the authors made a retrospective analysis of 37 of all the 725 legal suits filed in some hospitals of the Apulian region (South Italy) during the period between 1991 and 2000, being all those lodged against operators in the neurological, urological, otorhino-laryngoiatric and cardiosurgical fields, recorded in the Archives of the Health Services of Bari, Brindisi, Lecce and Taranto or in those of our Forensic Department following consultations on medical and surgical responsibility.

Medical malpractice: a study of case histories by the Forensic Medicine Section of Bari.

The learning objectives of this paper are to study the actual extent of medical malpractice, the medical acts at risk, and their impact on mortality. The number of suits filed against physicians for deaths resulting from alleged malpractice and autopsies ordered by the Judicial Authority in cases of possible therapeutic misadventures are rising. A major factor pushing this trend is public mistrust of healthcare providers and public and facilities.

DNA identification of sperm cells collected and sorted by flow cytometry.

In cases of rape, obtaining enough biologic material for DNA identification of the attacker is often difficult because the methods for distinguishing and separating sperm cells from vaginal cells are not sufficiently efficacious. This article describes a new, innovative method for spermatic DNA extraction from the vaginal washing fluid by means of flow cytometry. The high specificity and sensitivity of the flow-cytometric sorting method provides enough sperm cells for DNA typing.

A case of electrocution during illegal fishing activities.

The passage of electric current through the human body causes variable harm, ranging from loss of consciousness to death caused by paralysis of the bulbar nerve centers. This report describes a fatal case caused by an illegal fishing practice involving stunning fish with electric shocks produced by an electric generator carried through the water inside the carcass of an old refrigerator to keep it afloat. This occurrence is unusual because of the circumstances giving rise to the use of electric current and the cause of death, which resulted from the combination of the electric current produced by the generator and the saltwater, bringing about death by drowning.