Abstract

VEGA ZUNIGA, Franz; CHACON BARQUERO, Lawrence  and  VILLALOBOS LEON, Kennette. Legal Medicine in Costa Rica. History, current affairs and future projection. Med. leg. Costa Rica [online]. 2019, vol.36, n.2, pp.127-165. ISSN 2215-5287.

Since the sixties of the previous century, the efforts of Dr. Adolfo Acosta Guzmán, paid off for Costa Rica to undertake the interweaving of law with medicine, formally establishing Legal Medicine in an institutional and educational way.

At present, the Departments of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences are located in a place named Ciudad Judicial, San Joaquin de Flores, in Heredia; with decentralization of its services through almost twenty Legal Medical Units throughout the country. It is important to note that in our country, Legal Medicine works in a Department other than the Department of Forensic Sciences, both have a Departmental Chief independently of each other, and that both are due to the General Directorate of the Judicial Investigation Agency .

The mysticism and professionalism of more than one hundred professionals in legal medicine and related disciplines has allowed a solid system for the daily assessment of expertise in areas such as assessment of permanent impairment in criminal and labor matters, sexual assault crimes, domestic violence, forensic pathology, forensic psychiatry, forensic dentistry, forensic anthropology and many others.

This article addresses the history and current affairs of Legal Medicine in Costa Rica, its scope and projections.

Keywords : Medicina legal; ciencias forenses; violencia doméstica; odontología forense (Fuente NLM; MesH); Legal Medicine; Forensic Sciences; domestic violence; forensic dentistry (Source NLM; MesH).

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