Avaliação Crítica das Perícias de Lesões Corporais em Crianças no Instituto Médico-Legal de Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais durante o período de um ano e da Contribuição na Investigação do Crime de Maus-tratos.

Abstract

Regarding to the complexity of managing child maltreatment cases and the expectancy of the society towards the Legal Medicine Institute examination, this study was carried out to assess the real contribution of the forensic examination in the understanding of violence against children. Two hundred and twelve cases of bodily injury forensic examinations of children younger than 12 years old, conducted at the Legal Medicine Institute of Belo Horizonte were reviewed regarding to age, sex, day of the week and time of examination, the accompanyingadult, the relationship of the alleged aggressor, the diagnostic process of the injury, the affected part of the body, the answers to the official inquiries, and the forensic classification of the injuries according to the Brazilian Penal Code. The outcomes (or findings) were only included if there was an indication of an alleged aggressor in order to fulfill the criteria for child abuse of physical type (parents, uncles and aunts,grandparents, teachers and babysitters). Male children were predominant, with heterogeneous distribution of ages. Most of the examinations were conducted during the first two workdays, during the late afternoon or early evening. Injuries were present in 81,6% of all cases and 96,5% were diagnosed by simple physical exam. The physical examination (palpation) contributed to the assessment. All cases exceptone were classified as bodily injuries of mild nature, even those who needed and were submitted to complimentary examination. One case was controversially classified as severe. The study showed that the forensic examination in children suspected of having been abused, did not contribute to the diagnosis, and could have also been performed by a non-forensic physician. The main objective to improve abused-child care should focuses on the creation of a reference center at which children suspected of being abused can be examined, and appropriate documentation can be accomplished to provide data for an indirect forensic report.