The case of the brutally abused girl from Stara Zagora urgently put the long-neglected problems of forensic medicine on the political agenda in our country. At a midnight meeting on Monday, MPs from the parliamentary health committee heard from the Minister of Health Hristo Hinkov and experts about whether the procedures were followed in the preparation of the forensic medical examination in the case of the girl who was cut with a dummy knife in Stara Zagora, as well as the current rules and procedures for determining type of injury. The small number of medics who are undervalued and work without a medical standard for their work were some of the problems outlined.
No one bothered to say whether there were gaps in the work of the medical examiner who prepared the expertise in the particular casebut the minister, coroner, and deputies were categorical that the complex assessment of the crime is the job of the court, not the doctor.
From the words of the Minister of Health Hristo Hinkov before the meeting, it became clear that sooner the medical examiner “took it a bit too far” having been temporarily suspended pending the completion of the investigation. In order to have quality and predictability in the work of forensic doctors, the Ministry of Health is about to adopt a medical standard on forensic medicine. Hinkov explained that this is not being done because of the specific case with Stara Zagora, but the standard has been prepared by the specialists in the field for 10 years and simply its finalization coincides with the occasion. According to him, even this standard will not solve the complex problems of forensic doctors. The standard defines the minimum mandatory requirements for the structures carrying out the activities of forensic medicine and appears as a professional protocol for the work of the specialists.
“About thinking we can be the gray cardinals in court – we can’tas our expertise is not binding on the court. It may or may not be accepted”, said Associate Professor Alexander Apostolov, chairman of the Bulgarian Society of Forensic Medicine, during the meeting. On behalf of the company, he spoke against the media passing judgments and pointing out the guilty. He said that this is why the medical activity of preparing forensic expertise should be regulated, but in his words, there is no way to frame the specific opinion of the expert, because then he would not be independent. Apostolov pointed out that, in principle, it is possible to have two opinions on the same case, and each expert will present his reasons and justify them, and the court would only benefit from this. He added that the court ultimately decides whether to accept an expertise or not.
Regarding the specific case in Stara Zagora, Apostolov stated that his colleague has given an initial conclusion at an early stage, in which he most likely did not have all the medical documents to give a reasoned conclusion about the severity of the traumatic injuries. The medical examiner in Stara Zagora gave their medico-biological characteristics, which was sufficient at this stage. The fact that extended expertise was not subsequently appointed is not a problem for the medical examineradded Apostolov.
Health Minister Hristo Hinkov also indicated that it is the court that takes into account all the circumstances related to a crime and makes a complex assessment.
Medical law specialist lawyer Maria Petrova explained that without an effective standard of forensic medicine, doctors have no legal framework for their work, suffer criticism and it is not clear who, how and under what conditions exercises control over their work. In addition, there is no possibility to seek administrative criminal liability.
PP-DB MP Vasil Pandov commented that the medical standard cannot supplement the Penal Code. “We cannot blame the Ministry of Health and the expert whether the criteria for light and medium bodily injury are correct, because they are subject to the Criminal Code. A standard is needed, but we cannot say that the lack of a standard has led to this situation.”, he pointed out. He added that multiple wounds could be determined by one expert to be non-life-threatening but another expert to judge them to be life-threatening.
“We need working conditions that provide quality and predictability in the work of medical specialists”said Pandov.
2023-08-07 19:09:00
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