Abstract
After an overview of the subdisciplines and topics pertaining to bio-medicolegal sciences at an international level, the chapter illustrates the need for a systematic and holistic approach for the ascertainment and evaluation of personal injury and damage.
Modern evidence-based medicine is moving toward a preventive, predictive, participatory, and personalized model of diagnosis and therapy. Bio-medicolegal sciences, following that trend, must increase precision, objectivity, and reproducibility in data/evidence collection procedures, consider the injured and damage person as a “unique” entity, and personalize the description and evaluation of any impairment, disability, handicap, and other nonpecuniary losses causally related to the damaging event. The medicolegal contribution to compensation for personal damage must look for the deepest and most complete representation of the components of a person. A holistic view does not consider the person as a sum of parts but rather a complex ensemble requiring interpretation and medicolegal representation for forensic application purposes. The challenge to face is thrilling and involves drawing maps of a new geography of knowledge, to identify the pathways and destinations to restore order, aware that the coming evolution must preserve the medicolegal tradition, while rebuilding a new system of quality and values.
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Ferrara, S.D., Norelli, G.A., Zoia, R. (2016). The Holistic and Systematic Approach in Legal Medicine. In: Ferrara, S., Boscolo-Berto, R., Viel, G. (eds) Personal Injury and Damage Ascertainment under Civil Law. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29812-2_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29812-2_2
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