[Inadequacy of legal norms of evaluation the percentage of detriment to health--a problem of appropriate assessment]

Arch Med Sadowej Kryminol. 2007 Jan-Mar;57(1):53-7.
[Article in Polish]

Abstract

Analyses of expert opinions issued in case of long-term and permanent detriment to health indicate an anachronistic nature of solutions offered by legal assessment systems. The fundamental problem the authors observed is the assessment of detriment percentage that is divorced from reality and oversimplifies this problem, especially in relation to severe traumas, where multiple injures cause health damage exceeding 100%. Our observations indicate that such a situation is largely determined by progress in medicine. Nowadays, many individuals, who would have died immediately after the accident twenty years ago, survive due to advanced medical techniques. Yet the price paid for saving their lives is multi-organ disability that lies beyond the scope of contemporary regulations. The profile of disabled persons where young individuals predominate proves the necessity of introducing changes into the system, including their revalidation. Another important aspect is the relationship between the presently obligatory type of functional assessment and the real impairment of the organ function with the resultant limitations of daily life and deterioration of quality of life. Finally, the tables of normal values still employ terms that are considered by modern classifications as long out-dated. The objective of the present paper is to suggest the development of an alternative solution.

Publication types

  • English Abstract

MeSH terms

  • Disability Evaluation*
  • Disabled Persons / legislation & jurisprudence*
  • Expert Testimony / legislation & jurisprudence*
  • Expert Testimony / standards*
  • Forensic Medicine / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Health Status
  • Humans
  • Medical Records / standards*
  • Occupational Health / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Poland
  • Quality of Life