[Possibility of employing existing local medical facilities in the medico-legal judgment on occupational deafness].
In view of Law no. 833 dated 23-12-1978, and particularly the 3rd paragraph of the medico-legal services of local health units for legal proceedings, a retrospective analysis has been carried out of the audiological records of 972 workers prepared by the Centre for Social Diseases and Preventive Medicine of the Province of Florence. The study revealed the presence of numerous false positive. While these did not invalidate preventive screening, as it is an inexpensive business to separate cases requiring further control from a high number of individuals, they still represent a serious limitation from the forensic medicine viewpoint. The audiograms do not in fact provide an expression of the exact permanent damage the worker has suffered, they only offer diagnostic and pathogenetic orientation of auditory damage, for preventive purposes. Greater consideration of forensic medicine requirements is therefore recommended at a moment in which details of the law are about to be drafted together with instructions for their implementation on the part of the regions.
D003638:Deafness / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006268:Health Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D007883:Legislation, Medical; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*
Possibilità di utilizzazione delle attuali strutture sanitarie territoriali nel giudizio medico-legale della sordità professionale.