Vivências dos trabalhadores do instituto médico legal de Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, frente ao desastre de massa: rompimento de barragem

Abstract

Introduction: The mass disaster of the B1 dam failure of the Córrego do Feijão Mine, in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil, on January 25, 2019, resulted in environmental destruction, suffering and deaths. Objective: discuss the performance of professionals from the Legal Medical Institute of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, in the face of technical-scientific expertise in fatal victims and in the care of their families, caused by the event. Method: A qualitative-quantitative, descriptive-explanatory study was carried out, whose instruments were questionnaires, structured and semi-structured, applied to the institution's workers, which addressed sociodemographic aspects, personal and structural difficulties in carrying out the work and their perception in this specific work. Results: The research results suggest that the composition and performance of the qualified multidisciplinary team were essential for the success of the work, observing difficulties in relation to physical space, personnel and equipment. The work of the multidisciplinary team brought from the experiences: learning, overcoming, risks and suffering. It was concluded that the work of the professionals involved allowed the legal medical expertise of the fatal victims, the reception of their relatives and the identification and release of the bodies for the proper procedures and burial. In the historical context of the Legal Medical Institute of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, this case of mass disaster solution is a landmark that explains the multidisciplinary expert and technical performance of the professionals involved in one of the biggest accidents at work, with fatal victims, which took place in Brazil.