Historical preconditions for the formation of a quality control system for forensic examinations

Abstract

Introduction. The problem of the quality of forensic examinations has existed throughout the history of forensic medicine, which determines the relevance of quality control of examinations.The purpose of the work was to evaluate and analyze, from a historical perspective, the literature and the provisions of regulatory documents on quality control of forensic examinations, the definition of defects and their prevention at all stages of forensic examination.Materials and methods. A literature search on the subject was performed in the PubMed, ResearchGate, and Elibrary databases. The depth of the search is 151 years. Fifty-six sources were included in the review.Results and discussion. For the first time the right of a forensic physician to err was recognized in the 19th century, doctors were prosecuted for mistakes. Expert errors are relevant nowadays, the conclusions of experts are not satisfied by courts, investigation and prosecutor’s office. The significance of quality control of expert examinations at the state level was determined in 1951. The first measures to improve expert examinations were adopted in 1962. In 1978, provisions were formulated for the execution of the expert report, the possibility of a dubious conclusion was pointed out. In 1991, the requirements for the execution of documents were outlined. In 2003 a procedure for organizing repeated commission expert examonations after poor-quality primary ones was presented. Currently, however, the regulatory documents lack criteria for defective examinations and measures to prevent defects. In the Russian Federation in 2019 a plan of measures to improve the production of expert examinations is approved, which determines the relevance of studying the issues of organization of quality control of expert examinations and prevention of expert errors.Conclusion. Since the establishment of the State Bureau of Forensic Medicine in the Russian Federation, criteria for the quality of forensic examination based on the identification of defects in the work of a forensic doctor have been developed and used. The formation of successive stages of control based on unified criteria for evaluating the expert work will allow to draw an objective conclusion about the quality of forensic examination.