Medical and Medico-legal Support

 

A victim of crime, particularly of a violent crime, should always seek the health services right away: a health centre, an urgent care service or a hospital’s accident and emergency service. Victims of crime can also go to the regional services of the National Institute of Legal Medicine (Oporto, Coimbra and Lisbon) and to the Medico-Legal Units Offices around the country – these services also receive complaints.

Medical support has advantages for the victim:

» Allows collecting evidence of the physical consequences of the criminal act;

» Allows the medical evaluation of the situation resulting from the crime, which may determine the need for special care, treatment or particular examinations.

 

Legal Medicine is a medical and legal speciality that uses medical technical and scientific knowledge to clarify facts of interest to the administration of justice. The medico-legal examination only takes place when requested by the Court – the expert activity can take place at different levels, as for example: medico-legal clinic, forensic psychiatry or forensic thanatology.