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An Analysis of Medicolegal Reporting in Workman Injuries Referred for Medicolegal Examination in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Sri Lanka

INTRODUCTION: A reasonable number of workman injuries are reported for medicolegal examination every year. In addition to report on the degree of severity and consistency of the injuries with the historical evidence, the medical officers are expected to opine on degree of disability as well. However...

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Autores principales: Kitulwatte, I. D. G., Edirisinghe, P. A. S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Wolters Kluwer - Medknow 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7703824/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33281372
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/ijoem.IJOEM_81_20
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author Kitulwatte, I. D. G.
Edirisinghe, P. A. S.
author_facet Kitulwatte, I. D. G.
Edirisinghe, P. A. S.
author_sort Kitulwatte, I. D. G.
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: A reasonable number of workman injuries are reported for medicolegal examination every year. In addition to report on the degree of severity and consistency of the injuries with the historical evidence, the medical officers are expected to opine on degree of disability as well. However, routine Medicolegal Examination Form or Report used in Sri Lanka to report these cases does not carry a section for disability or impairment. OBJECTIVE: To gain an insight into the pathology of workplace injuries and to evaluate the role of medicolegal examination and reporting among the victims presented with injuries at work. METHODS: A retrospective descriptive study was carried out on workmen who were referred for medicolegal examination during a period of 5 years in a Tertiary Care Hospital in the Western Province of Sri Lanka. RESULTS: Out of 172 subjects who got injured at work, none had claimed for a report of compensation. 47% (81) of the injured workers were in the age group of 19–30 years. 81% (139) were males. Factory workers were the most vulnerable workers (34%) followed by drivers (15%). A majority 39% (67) of injuries were located on upper limbs. 52% (90) of the victims had grievous injuries. However, a majority 61% (105) had no permanent disability. CONCLUSIONS: Disability is not a direct reflection of the category of hurt. Therefore, testifying on routine medicolegal reports on cases of workman compensation will not serve justice to the patient.
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spelling pubmed-77038242020-12-04 An Analysis of Medicolegal Reporting in Workman Injuries Referred for Medicolegal Examination in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Sri Lanka Kitulwatte, I. D. G. Edirisinghe, P. A. S. Indian J Occup Environ Med Original Article INTRODUCTION: A reasonable number of workman injuries are reported for medicolegal examination every year. In addition to report on the degree of severity and consistency of the injuries with the historical evidence, the medical officers are expected to opine on degree of disability as well. However, routine Medicolegal Examination Form or Report used in Sri Lanka to report these cases does not carry a section for disability or impairment. OBJECTIVE: To gain an insight into the pathology of workplace injuries and to evaluate the role of medicolegal examination and reporting among the victims presented with injuries at work. METHODS: A retrospective descriptive study was carried out on workmen who were referred for medicolegal examination during a period of 5 years in a Tertiary Care Hospital in the Western Province of Sri Lanka. RESULTS: Out of 172 subjects who got injured at work, none had claimed for a report of compensation. 47% (81) of the injured workers were in the age group of 19–30 years. 81% (139) were males. Factory workers were the most vulnerable workers (34%) followed by drivers (15%). A majority 39% (67) of injuries were located on upper limbs. 52% (90) of the victims had grievous injuries. However, a majority 61% (105) had no permanent disability. CONCLUSIONS: Disability is not a direct reflection of the category of hurt. Therefore, testifying on routine medicolegal reports on cases of workman compensation will not serve justice to the patient. Wolters Kluwer - Medknow 2020 2020-08-19 /pmc/articles/PMC7703824/ /pubmed/33281372 http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/ijoem.IJOEM_81_20 Text en Copyright: © 2020 Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
spellingShingle Original Article
Kitulwatte, I. D. G.
Edirisinghe, P. A. S.
An Analysis of Medicolegal Reporting in Workman Injuries Referred for Medicolegal Examination in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Sri Lanka
title An Analysis of Medicolegal Reporting in Workman Injuries Referred for Medicolegal Examination in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Sri Lanka
title_full An Analysis of Medicolegal Reporting in Workman Injuries Referred for Medicolegal Examination in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Sri Lanka
title_fullStr An Analysis of Medicolegal Reporting in Workman Injuries Referred for Medicolegal Examination in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Sri Lanka
title_full_unstemmed An Analysis of Medicolegal Reporting in Workman Injuries Referred for Medicolegal Examination in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Sri Lanka
title_short An Analysis of Medicolegal Reporting in Workman Injuries Referred for Medicolegal Examination in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Sri Lanka
title_sort analysis of medicolegal reporting in workman injuries referred for medicolegal examination in a tertiary care hospital of sri lanka
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7703824/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33281372
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/ijoem.IJOEM_81_20
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