Leg. Med. Ass 1

Jetlee G.
Estacion
Crim4
LEGAL MEDICINE
(Assignment #1)
A.DEFINITION OF TERMS
1. Legal - That which pertains to law, arising out of, by virtue of or included in
law. It also refers to anything conformable to the letters or rules of law as it is
administered by the court.
2. Forensic - It denotes anything belonging to the court of law or used in court or
legal proceedings or something fitted for legal or public argumentation.
3. Jurisprudence - It is a practical science which investigates the nature, origin,
development, and functions of law. It is a science of giving a wise interpretation
of the law.
4. Medicine - It is a science and art dealing with prevention, cure and alleviation
of disease. It is that part of science and art of restoring and preserving health.
5. Legal Medicine - A branch of medicine which deals with the application of

medical knowledge to the purposes of law and in the administration of justice.
6. Medical Jurisprudence - knowledge of law in relation to the practice of

medicine. It concerns with the study of the rights, duties and obligations of
medical practitioner with particular reference to those arising from doctor-patient
relationship.
7. Law - It is a rule of conduct, just and obligatory, laid by legitimate power for
common observance and benefit.
8. Forensic Science – also known as criminalistics, is the application of science

to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal
investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and
criminal procedure.
9. Criminal Law - is that branch or division of law which defines crimes, treats of
their nature and provides for their punishment.
10. Medico Legal Officer - A physician who specializes or is involved primarily

with medico legal duties is known as medical jurist, (meoical examiner,
medicolegal officer, medico-legal expert). Inasmuch as administration of justice is
primarily a function of the state, physicians whose duties are mainly medico-legal
in nature are mostly in the service of the government
B. 25 personalities in the worldwide scale and their contribution in legal medicine
1. Imhotep - He was the chief physician and architect of King Zoser of the third
dynasty in Egypt and the builder of the first pyramid. That time was the first
recorded report of a murder trial written on clay tablet.
2. Hippocrates - in Greece discussed the lethality of wounds. Aristotle (384-322

B.C.) fixed animation of fetus at the 40th day after conception.
3. Numa Pompilius - That bodies of all women dying during confinement

should immediately be opened in order to save the child's life was
promulgated.
4. Antistius - The first "police surgeon" or forensic pathologist was Antistius.

Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.) was murdered and his body was exposed in the
forum and Antistius performed the autopsy. He found out that Julius Caesar
suffered from twenty-three wounds and only one penetrated the chest cavity
through the space between the first and second ribs.
5. Justinian - in his Digest, made mention that a physician is not an ordinary

witness and that a physician gives judgment rather than testimony. This led to
the recognition of expert witness in court.
6. Emperor Charles V - The first textbook in legal medicine was included in the
Constitute Criminalis Carolina which was promulgated in 1532
7. Pope Innocent III - issued an edict providing for the appointment of doctors
to the courts for the determination of the nature of wounds.
8. Pope Gregory IX, in 1234, caused the preparation of Nova Compilatio

Decretalium which concerned medical evidence, marriage, nullity, impotence,
delivery, caesarian section, legitimacy, sexual offenses, crime against
persons and witchcraft.
9. Pope John XXII - expressed the need of experts in the ecclesiastical courts,
in the diagnosis of leprosy and many medico-legal documents.
10. Ambroise Pare - considered legal medicine as a separate discipline and

he'discussed in his book, abortion, infanticide, death by lightning, hanging,
drowning, feign diseases, distinction between ante-mortem and post-mortem
wound and poisoning by carbon monoxide and by corrosives.
11. Paulus Zacchias - a papal physician, is regarded as the "father of forensic
medicine." He published Questiones Medico-legales which dealt with the legal
aspects of wounds and the first two chapter dealt with the detection of secret
homicide.
12. Severin Pineau - published in Paris a work on virginity and defloration. He

confirmed the existence of the hymen and that it may not rupture during
sexual intercourse.
13. Orfila - introduced chemical methods in toxicology. In his Traite' des Poison,
he mentioned mineral, vegetable and animal poison in relation with
physiology, pathology and legal medicine. He was considered later as the
founder of modern toxicology.
14. Dr. Rafael Genard y Mas - the first medical textbook printed including
pertinent instructions related to medico-legal practice by Spanish physician.
Teaching of legal medicine, included as an academic subject in the
foundation of the School of Medicine of the Real y Pontifica Universidad de
Santo Tomas.
15. Dr. Sixto de los Angeles - created the Department of Legal Medicine and
Ethics.
16. Dr. Gregorio T. Lantin - creating the Division of Investigation under the
Department of Justice. The Medico-Legal Section was made as an integral
part of the Division.
17. Dr. Mariano Lara - created the Criminal Investigation Laboratory with the
Office of the Medical Examiner as an integral part.
18. Dr. Enrique V. de los Santos - The Bureau of Investigation was created by
virtue of an executive order of the President of the Philippines. Under the
bureau, a Medico-Legal Division was created.
19. Hippocrates of Kos - also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician
of the Age of Pericles, who is considered one of the most outstanding figures
in the history of medicine. He is often referred to as the "Father of Medicine"
in recognition of his lasting contributions to the field as the founder of the
Hippocratic School of Medicine. This intellectual school revolutionized Ancient
Greek medicine, establishing it as a discipline distinct from other fields with
which it had traditionally been associated, thus establishing medicine as a
profession.
20. Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus - often Anglicized as Galen and better
known as Galen of Pergamon, was a physician, surgeon and philosopher in
the Roman Empire. He is considered one of the most accomplished of all
medical researchers of antiquity, Galen influenced the development of various
scientific disciplines, including anatomy, physiology, pathology,
pharmacology, and neurology, as well as philosophy and logic.
21. Samuel Farr -was entitled Elements of Medical Jurisprudence, a succinct and

compendious description of findings in the human body that were required for
judgment by coroners and courts of law in cases of divorce, rape, and
murder, among others.
22. Dr. Benjamin Rush - is credited with emphasizing the significance of the
relationship between law and medicine.
23. William Stewart Halsted, MD - was an American surgeon who emphasized

strict aseptic technique during surgical procedures, was an early champion of
newly discovered anaesthetics, and introduced several new operations,
including the radical mastectomy for breast cancer.
24. Calvin Hooker Goddard - was a forensic scientist, army officer, academic,
researcher and a pioneer in forensic ballistics. He examined the bullet
casings in the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre and showed that the guns
used were not police issued weapons, leading the investigators to conclude it
was a mob hit.
25. Francis Galton - an anthropologist by training, who was the first to show
scientifically how fingerprints could be used to identify individuals.
C. Give the difference of Ordinary Physician to Medici-Legal Officer
1. An ordinary physician sees an injury or disease on the point of view of

treatment, while a medico-jurist sees injury or disease on the point of view of
cause.
2. The purpose of an ordinary physician examining a patient is to arrive at a

definite diagnosis so that appropriate treatment can be instituted, while the
purpose of the medical jurist in examining a patient is to include those bodily
lesions in his report and testify before the court or before an investigative body;
thus giving justice to whom it is due.
3. Minor or trivial injuries are usually ignored by an ordinary clinician inasmuch as
they do not require usual treatment. Superficial abrasions, small contusion and
other minor injuries will heal without medication. However, a medical jurist must
record all bodily injuries even if they are small or minor because these injuries
may be proofs to qualify the crime or to justify the act.
D. Importance of Legal Medicine in the Administration of Criminal Justice System

Legal medicine is quite broad and encompassing. It is the application of medical
and paramedical sciences as demanded by law and administration of justice. The
knowledge of the nature and extent of wounds has been acquired in surgery, abortion in
gynecology, sudden death and effects of trauma in pathology, etc. aside from having
knowledge of the basic medical sciences, like anatomy, physiology, biochemistry,
physics and other allied sciences.
A knowlege of legal medicine means the ability to acquire facts, the power to
arrange those facts in their logical order, and to draw a 1 2 LEGAL MEDICINE
conclusion from the facts which may be useful in the administration of justice. Aside
from being a perceptor of fact, he must possess the power to impart to others verbally
or in writing all those he has observed.

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Jetlee G.

5. Legal Medicine - A branch of medicine which deals with the application of

6. Medical Jurisprudence - knowledge of law in relation to the practice of

8. Forensic Science – also known as criminalistics, is the application of science

10. Medico Legal Officer - A physician who specializes or is involved primarily

2. Hippocrates - in Greece discussed the lethality of wounds. Aristotle (384-322

3. Numa Pompilius - That bodies of all women dying during confinement

4. Antistius - The first "police surgeon" or forensic pathologist was Antistius.

5. Justinian - in his Digest, made mention that a physician is not an ordinary

8. Pope Gregory IX, in 1234, caused the preparation of Nova Compilatio

10. Ambroise Pare - considered legal medicine as a separate discipline and

12. Severin Pineau - published in Paris a work on virginity and defloration. He

21. Samuel Farr -was entitled Elements of Medical Jurisprudence, a succinct and

23. William Stewart Halsted, MD - was an American surgeon who emphasized

1. An ordinary physician sees an injury or disease on the point of view of

2. The purpose of an ordinary physician examining a patient is to arrive at a

D. Importance of Legal Medicine in the Administration of Criminal Justice System

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