What is the Meaning of "Temporary" Forensic Reports for Emergency Physicians? Self Protection? Bias? Habit?...

Objectives Doctor's reports of forensic cases are prepared in hospitals and are used by legal offices. In this research, we investigated the reasons for writing forensic reports terminated with "temporary report". Methods This study was done prospectively in two different state hospitals. Data were analysed on SPSS v16.0. Data were collected during four weeks and then analyzed by using frequencies, Kolmogorov-smirnov (K-S) and Chisquare tests. Results In our study, a total of 610 forensic cases (Mersin Toros State Hospital (MTSH), n=171; Iskenderun State Hospital (ISH), n=439). There were 100 (58.5%) temporary forensic reports in MTSH, and 433 (99.6%) definitive forensic reports in ISH. When the legal reports of the 14 hospitalized/referred patients were analyzed, it was seen that all of them were terminated as 'temporary' in MTSH. According to our study, the results of forensic reports are affected directly when geriatric or pediatric patients, patients with head trauma or penetrating trauma to the Emergency room. 7 of the total of 11 physicians said that the reason of writing temporary reports was self protection. There were 32 (18.7%) consultation requests. The difference between the consultation requests and the type of the termination of the forensic reports were statistically significant (p=0.009). Conclusions The results of two hospitals with steady approaches in their own, but reverse results between each other may show that there is no standard approach for legal cases in our country. In addition to this, Temporary forensic reports are usually written for the reasons of self protection, prejudice or individual rules. Because of these two results, forensic medicine education was given to Emergency physicians more than needed.