Resumen

ABARCA VILLALOBOS, Dra. Zarela  y  VARGAS SANABRIA, Dr. Maikel. Medical legal analysis of the deaths occurred in the focus of a fire: tragedy at Dr. Rafael Angel Calderon Guardia Hospital in July, 2005. Med. leg. Costa Rica [online]. 2006, vol.23, n.2, pp.21-49. ISSN 2215-5287.

Last July 12^th 2005, in the "Dr. Calderon Guardia" Hospital, located in San José, Costa Rica, a tragic fire happened in the oldest section of its structure. This hospital is one of the main public medical centers in our country. In the fire, 21 deaths were produced: 19 of them inside the building. Also, material losses were produced for more than 20 million dollars and a serious reduction in the public hospital system in Costa Rica. In this paper, we are doing a forensic analysis about this disaster and the totality of deaths that have happened in fire focus in Costa Rica in the period between years 2000 to the 2005, in order to establish a demographic profile of the victims to compare the findings of the autopsies and the results of complementary examinations. This, with the purpose of suggesting a uniform forensic pathological handling, of the bodies recovered from fire focuses, including carbonized bodies and fires with great number of mortal victims.

Palabras clave : Thermal trauma; burn deaths; deaths in the focus of a fire; carbonized bodies; forensic handling of disasters; fires in hospitals; hospital Dr. Calderon Guardia deflagration.

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