Evaluation of cases reported for "permanent weakening or loss of the function of one of the senses or organs" and/or "fixed mark on the face" between 2011-2020 by Akdeniz University Department of Forensic Medicine

In our study, forensic cases that were reported by the Akdeniz University Forensic Medicine Department in terms of permanent weakening or loss of the function of one of their senses or organs, and/or a permanent scar on the face (which were among the factors that aggravated the punishment), were investigated retrospectively between the years 2011 and 2020. Cases evaluated in terms of age, gender, year, place of referral, sending authority, how long after the event they were sent for examination, how long they stayed in the hospital, type of event, evaluation of the life-threatening situation, whether the injury can be remedied with a simple medical intervention, whether there are bone fracture/fractures and its effect on vital functions, whether it is a permanent scar on the face, whether it is a weakening or loss of sense or organs, and the characteristics of the situations that constitute it. In our study, it was determined that 3100 (%76.4) of 4056 cases were male and 956 (%23.6) were female. Cases under the age of 18 constituted %16,5 (n=670) of all cases, and cases over 65 years old constituted %2,8 (n=113). It was found that the injury was life-threatening in 729 (%18) cases, and the injury could not be remedied by simple medical intervention in 2153 (%53.1) cases for which a report was written on the requested issues. While bone fracture/dislocation was not detected in 2766 (%68.2) cases, one bone fracture/dislocation was found in 593 (%14.6) cases, and more than one bone fracture/dislocation was found in 697 (%17.2) cases. It was registered that daily functions of 1290 (%31.8) cases with bone fractures was affected. The degree of this effect was mild in 130 (%10.1) cases, moderate in 514 (%39.8) cases, and severe in 646 cases (%50.1). When the cases are evaluated according to the type of event; the most common types of incidents were assault in 1058 (%26.1) cases, outside-the-vehicle traffic accidents in 972 (%24.0) cases, in-vehicle traffic accidents in 702 (%17.3) cases, sharp force injuries in 387 (%9.5) cases and gunshot wounds in 204 (%5) cases. When traffic accidents are evaluated without making any distinction among in-vehicle, outsidethe-vehicle and non-specified traffic accidents, it can be said that the most common type of incident is traffic accidents with a total of 1746 cases (%43.1). In our study, it was recorded that 304 of all cases (%7.5) were occupational accidents. In our study, facial injuries occurred in 1572 (%38.8) cases. In 235 (%14.9) of the cases with facial injuries, it was determined that the facial injury caused a permanent scar on the face. In 3 cases, although there was no facial injury at the time of the incident, a fixed scar was formed on the face following the healing process due to the medical procedure, treatment and/or surgery related to the incident. Although it is possible to see more than one condition in a case with a fixed scar on their face, scar tissue was reported to be formed after scarred healing of the injuries in 143 cases, surgical scars due to trauma in the facial region in 33 cases, asymmetric appearance due to bone fractures/dislocations in the facial region in 32 cases, loss of tissue integrity in 32 cases, asymmetric appearance due to intraocular lesion in 13 cases, tooth fracture in 6 cases, burn scars in 6 cases, and facial appearance changes due to nerve paralysis in 3 cases. In our study, none of the cases had "permanent changes in their faces". In our study, in 220 (5.6%) out of 3897 cases in which trauma was evaluated, in terms of permanent weakening or loss of sensory or organ function, the trauma caused a permanent weakening of one of the senses or organs, in 306 (7.9%) cases, the trauma caused loss of the function of one of the senses or organs, in 3356 (86.1%) cases, the trauma did not lead to loss or weakening of one of the senses or organs. It has been determined that a forensic report was prepared in 15 (0.4%) cases stating that it would be appropriate to obtain an opinion from the Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute. Considering the fact that more than one condition can cause permanent weakening of a sense or an organ function among a total of 220 cases, the distribution of the cause of these conditions were as follows: restriction of joint range of motion in 154 (66.4%), amputation/bone removal in 30 (12.9%), sensorial dysfunction in 24 (10.3%), neurological sequelae in 18 (7.8%), organ removal in 4 (1.7%), and other reasons in 2 (0.9%) (decreased respiratory function in 1, decreased cardiac function in 1). Considering the fact that more than one situation can cause sensorial or organ loss in a case (n=306 cases), the evaluation of the factors that cause this situation is as follows; sensorial dysfunction in 113 (35.9%), organ removal in 75 (23.8%), neurological sequelae in 51 (16.2%), amputation/bone removal in 45 (14.3%), limitation of joint range of motion in 30 (9.5%), and due to other reasons in 1 (0.3%) (erectile dysfunction). Our study is one of the few studies on this subject. In our study, the characteristics of the forensic cases for which the report was written by giving a definite result in terms of permanent weakening or loss of the function of one of senses or organs and/or a fixed scar on the face were revealed and compared with national and international literature.