Abstract

GARCIA-GARDUZA, Ismael. Importance of Legal Medicine in medical practice. Rev. Fac. Med. (Méx.) [online]. 2014, vol.57, n.5, pp.20-31. ISSN 2448-4865.

Legal Medicine is part of the curriculum of a medical career, however, due to an error in its definition (since it is considered equivalent to forensics) has promoted the general unclear notion about what it is, what their goals are and, therefore, its importance in the medical-clinical practice. Therefore, in this article the concept of Legal Medicine, its functions and differences with forensics are defined, because all of them are required for its application in medical practice to be correct. This is especially important since the achievement of these purposes allows the medical professional to define the course of his professional practice knowing then what he can and should do, ensuring legal certainty (it will prevent medical malpractice lawsuits). In addition, Legal Medicine enables him to know the adversarial criminal justice system (oral trials), in order to participate as an expert.

Keywords : Legal Medicine; Forensic Medicine; expert level.