94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Regulatory Science
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1521195
This article is part of the Research TopicErrors and Biases in Modern Healthcare: Public Health, Medico-legal and Risk Management AspectsView all 7 articles
Navigating the Landscape of Legal Medicine: A Four-Year Analysis of Forensic Consultations in an Italian Hospital
Provisionally accepted
Paolo Visci1*
Gianmarco Sirago1Annachiara Vinci1Francesco Calò1
Francesco De Micco2
Marcello Benevento1Biagio Solarino1
Alessandro Dell'Erba1
Davide Ferorelli1- 1University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
- 2Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital, Roma, Sicily, Italy
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
This study explores a comprehensive four-year retrospective analysis of 511 forensic consultations conducted at "Policlinico" hospital in Bari, Italy, highlighting the expanding role of legal medicine within healthcare settings. Traditionally viewed as encompassing expert testimony and forensic pathology, legal medicine in Italy now addresses diverse clinical areas such as informed consent, disability assessment, personal injuries, and sexual violence. Data were systematically categorized and analyzed through a multivariate multinomial regression model, revealing significant determinants influencing consultation types, including patient demographics and timing of shifts. Informed consent issues emerged as a focal area, especially concerning patient autonomy and neuropsychiatric conditions, with 58.7% of consultations addressing self-determination and capacity for consent. Personal injury consultations (24.3%) and sexual assault cases (10%) further underscored the intersection between medicine and forensic considerations, highlighting societal issues like interpersonal violence. The analysis also identified gaps in literature surrounding the broader applications of legal medicine, advocating for integrating advanced methodologies, such as artificial intelligence, to improve patient profiling and predictive care. These findings underline the necessity for structured forensic consultation services in clinical practice, contributing to patient safety, risk management, and the protection of patient rights. This research provides critical insights for healthcare professionals, administrators, and policymakers and suggests a global approach to legal medicine, enhancing justice and patient-centered care in healthcare systems.
Keywords: legal medicine, Forensic Consultations, Informed Consent, Personal injury, sexual violence, Patient autonomy, Clinical risk management, artificial intelligence
Received: 01 Nov 2024; Accepted: 08 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Visci, Sirago, Vinci, Calò, De Micco, Benevento, Solarino, Dell'Erba and Ferorelli. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Paolo Visci, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.