Major Depression, Criminal Imputation and Expert Justification in the Causality of Suicide in the Workplace

Abstract

A case of suicide carried out on a holiday (Sunday) at the workplace. While the widow and daughters defend that their situation of widowhood and orphanhood derive from an accident at work, the company and the insurer defend that there is no direct causal link between the suicide and the exercise of their work activity. Through the report of the technical labor inspection, it was possible to prove that said self-inflicted behavior presents a direct causal relationship; in addition, a forensic psychological expert report was provided for the case that accredited said connection. On the contrary, neither the company nor the insurer provided a psychological-psychiatric expert that could prove that said suicide had its origin in causes unrelated to the workplace, and the Judge ruled in favor of the widow and orphaned children.