Des médecins qui ne guérissent pas : enjeux du travail en médecine légale

Abstract

ContextThis article presents elements of my research work in the Institute of Forensic Medicine, with a focus on the work of medical examiners and technical officers. GoalTo demonstrate the ambivalent anchoring of forensic medicine within medicine in a general way. MethodThe clinical material presented was collected using the ethnographic method and the resulting analysis uses, in particular, occupational psychodynamics. ResultsA marginalized speciality, and one rarely sought out by medical interns, forensic medicine is often practiced in the shadows in the prestigious services of hospitals and clinics. Even if this medical practice aims at autopsying corpses and not at healing patients, its marginality does not allow us to draw conclusions about the specific psychic mechanisms required to exercise this activity. On the contrary: we will hypothesize that the defense strategies and sublimatory mechanisms that are deployed during the exercise of this activity are transversal to different medical disciplines, as are the organization of work and the moral division that is based on them. We will conclude with a reflection on the ethical issues present in this professional sphere, and by questioning the place of the human being in the acquisition of medical knowledge.