Resumen

ARGUEDAS PIEDRA, Miguel Angel. El estado de invalidez y su definición, un desafío medico legal. Med. leg. Costa Rica [online]. 2002, vol.19, n.2, pp.79-85. ISSN 2215-5287.

One of de most difficult evaluations that a forensic doctor carries out is the one which determines, in a precise clear andjust way, whether or not a person is a handicap. Many times, the expert not having an out line or a suitable frame of reference, produces a veredict that is nothing bur an enumeration of incoherent, contradictory and incongruent information. lt has been our concern, after many years of studying veredicts of such kind, after long and extensive conversations with my colleages of section A of the Forensic Medical counsil, to contribute with a fragme or reference qhich will allow these cases lo be analyzed with a greater closeness to the clinical reality of the patients who request a pension por disability. In any other way, the evaluations are made by mere calculations, most of the time with opinions (and not criteria) deduced front prejudices, stercootypes and personal anecdotic situacions. Altrough the frame or reference is fundamental. It is important to mention that the correction and the vacue of medical-legal operations doesn't depend onlv on the methods and technicoves employed, but also on the moral and intellectual qualities of the expert, This article is dedicated especially lo the residents and to all good-willed people, and I would only want it to stimulate thinking on this topic wich in my opinion, is of extreme important.

Palabras clave : Disability; suitable know-how; chronic illness; deficiency; invalidity.