History of forensic medicine in Turkey.
Turkey has a short history of forensic medicine compared to the developed countries. Sultan Mahmud II established the first medical school of the Ottoman Empire named as Mekteb-i Tibbiye-i Sahane to provide health services to the army in 1839 [Gok S. Tomorrow, today and yesterday of the forensic medicine. 1st ed. Istanbul: Temel printing office; 1995]. It is also accepted as an important milestone of both medical education and forensic medicine in Turkey [Gok S and Ozen C. History and organization of forensic. 1st ed. Istanbul: Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Medical School Publications; 1982]. The first lecturer of forensic medicine at Mekteb-i Tibbiye-i Sahane was Dr. Charles Ambroise Bernard (C.A.). and he was also the first to perform autopsy in the history of Ottoman Empire [Gok, 1995]. Approximately 40 years after the first forensic medicine lecture in 1879, the Department of Medical Jurisprudence was established as a division of Zabita Tababet-i Adliye (Law Enforcement Office) in Istanbul [Sehsuvaroğlu and Ozen. History and development of forensic medicine in the world and in our country. Mag Istanbul Univ Med Fac 1974;36(60)]. This paper documents the first two cases of autopsies performed in Turkey with the original papers from the National Library.
Oguz
Polat
P
Marmara University Medical Faculty, Depart. of Forensic Medicine, 34662 Istanbul, Turkey. ouzpol@yahoo.com
Cem
Uysal
U
D001344:Autopsy / Q000266:history; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000266:history*; D014421:Turkey