INFERENCE: An Evidence-Based Approach for Medicolegal Causal Analyses

Putri Dianita Ika Meilia, Maurice P. Zeegers, Herkutanto and Michael Freeman
Additional contact information
Putri Dianita Ika Meilia: Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University Medical Center+, Universiteitssingel 40, 6229 ER Maastricht, The Netherlands
Maurice P. Zeegers: Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University Medical Center+, Universiteitssingel 40, 6229 ER Maastricht, The Netherlands
Herkutanto: Department of Forensic Medicine and Medicolegal Studies, Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia, Jl. Salemba Raya No. 4, Salemba, Jakarta Pusat 10430, Indonesia
Michael Freeman: Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University Medical Center+, Universiteitssingel 40, 6229 ER Maastricht, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 22, 1-16

Abstract: A fundamental purpose of forensic medical, or medicolegal, analysis is to provide legal factfinders with an opinion regarding the causal relationship between an alleged unlawful or negligent action and a medically observed adverse outcome, which is needed to establish legal liability. At present, there are no universally established standards for medicolegal causal analysis, although several different approaches to causation exist, with varying strengths and weaknesses and degrees of practical utility. These approaches can be categorized as intuitive or probabilistic, which are distributed along a spectrum of increasing case complexity. This paper proposes a systematic approach to evidence-based assessment of causation in forensic medicine, called the INtegration of Forensic Epidemiology and the Rigorous EvaluatioN of Causation Elements (INFERENCE) approach. The INFERENCE approach is an evolution of existing causal analysis methods and consists of a stepwise method of increasing complexity. We aimed to develop a probabilistic causal analysis approach that (1) fits the needs of legal factfinders who require an estimate of the probability of causation, and (2) is still sufficiently straightforward to be applied in real-world forensic medical practice. As the INFERENCE approach is most relevant in complex cases, we also propose a process for selecting the most appropriate causal analysis method for any given case. The goal of this approach is to improve the reproducibility and transparency of causal analyses, which will promote evidence-based practice and quality assurance in forensic medicine, resulting in expert opinions that are reliable and objective in legal proceedings.

Keywords: forensic medicine; medicolegal analysis; causal analysis; comparative risk; evidence-based practice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8353/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8353/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:22:p:8353-:d:443507

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().