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Clinical forensic examination of a living victim and of a suspect

In the forensic examination of a living person — an assault victim, a suspect or a detainee — the doctor documents injuries accurately and systematically, with consent or under legal authority, and describes findings without deciding guilt; good documentation in the emergency department is sometimes the only medical evidence there will ever be.

לקריאה בעברית

Why it matters in the exam

The exam asks what must be documented, when examination without consent is allowed, and what the doctor's role is when the story does not fit the injuries. Documentation for each injury includes: type (abrasion, bruise, laceration, incision, stab), position by anatomical landmarks, size in centimetres, shape, colour, direction and stage of healing, on a body chart and in a photograph with a scale. Areas the person did not mention — neck, ears, inner arms, back — are worth examining, and absence of injury is documented too.

When the story does not fit the injuries — for example a woman who "fell down the stairs" and has bruises in several planes, on the neck and on the inner arms — the doctor documents the mismatch, asks privately about domestic violence and offers help and support services, in line with the legal reporting duties. Examining a suspect or detainee requires consent, or authority under the Criminal Procedure (Body Search and Taking of Identification Means) Law, 1996, and in every case the doctor remains a doctor: treats any urgent medical condition, asks about pain and illness, and documents injuries sustained in custody.

Tasers, batons and punches leave recognisable patterns: parallel stripes from a rod blow, round grip bruises, and two small puncture wounds a fixed distance apart from Taser probes. In a fight, injuries on the attacker's hands (bruises and metacarpal fractures — the "boxer's fracture") may indicate blows he delivered. The doctor does not decide who is guilty and does not assess credibility; he states whether the findings are "consistent" or "not consistent" with the account given.

Key points

• Systematic documentation: type, position, size, shape, colour, healing.
• Photograph with a scale and by case number.
• Mismatch between story and injury — document and offer help.
• Examining a suspect: consent or authority under the 1996 law.
• The doctor describes consistency and does not decide guilt.

Summary table

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Sources

• Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine (UK): Recommendations on documentation of injuries, 2023 — Body charts, measurement and photography
• חוק סדר הדין הפלילי (סמכויות אכיפה — חיפוש בגוף ונטילת אמצעי זיהוי), התשנ״ו-1996, נוסח עדכני — Consent and authority for examining suspects
• Payne-James J et al. Encyclopedia of Forensic and Legal Medicine, 2nd edition (2016) — Clinical forensic medicine

Sources are given for further reading; the text is written afresh and not copied from them.

Reviewed by the Examqo AI Professor · 2026-11-06. The text may contain errors; when in doubt, check the source.