Suicide in the Old Elderly: Results From One Italian County

Objectives: To investigate factors differentiating old-old elderly (those aged 75 years and older) who died by suicide from middle-aged (those aged 50-64 years) and young-old (aged 65-74 years) adults who took their own lives, and from living psychiatric outpatients 75 years and older who had no suicidal behaviors in the last 12 months before assessment. Methods: Cases for psychological autopsy interviews were 117 old-old elderly who died by suicide between 1994 and 2009. Comparisons were 97 young-old adult and 98 middle-aged suicide victims and 117 psychiatric outpatients admitted to the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Parma (Parma, Italy) between 1994 and 2009. Information for suicide decedents was gathered through proxy-based interviews, and data regarding living comparison subjects were extracted from medical records. Results: A high number of old-old elderly were widowed and lived alone before death; widowhood was more prevalent in the old-old elderly than in the younger suicide groups and the psychiatric outpatients. In addition, old-old elderly were more frequently characterized by the presence of life stressors in the few months before death compared with the psychiatric outpatients. Conclusions: Clinicians involved in the prevention of suicide in older adults should pay particular attention to loneliness and lack of social support, two conditions that may push the individual to feel hopeless, especially in those individuals who are facing stressful life events. © 2013 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry

Legal scenarios in the coronavirus time: Medico legal implications in the aspects of governance

Along with rising levels of the infection around the world, the state of emergency prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic has also been having a heavy legal impact. The situation is posing important criminal challenges, as well as an ocean of social and public health issues around the world. It has not only directly affected constitutionally-guaranteed rights and individual freedoms, but also brought to the fore certain types of criminal offence that had previously been of little practical importance, such as the crime of ‘maliciously or unintentionally causing an epidemic’. Different countries and states have introduced policies to manage the emergency at different times and in different ways. The measures adopted have been the object of much criticism, also raising questions of constitutional legitimacy in countries like Italy. The present contribution begins with a brief outline of the different international scenarios. Then we examine some of the medicolegal aspects of criminal offences previously envisaged and newly introduced since the arrival of the pandemic. We suggest the need for a sort of ‘code of public health laws for the time of coronavirus’, that could also be applied to other public health emergencies, pandemic or otherwise. The idea is to give operators in the sector and the general population the opportunity to identify clear and simple rules to follow in the current complex global situation. We need a new, appropriate interpretation of the ‘boundaries’ of our individual rights in relation to the need to safeguard the wider community and its more vulnerable members

The trade of noxious food products. Note to the pronouncement of the Court of Crema of 13th April 2004 (Commercio di sostanze alimentari nocive. Nota alla sentenza del Tribunale di Crema del 13 aprile 2004)

La sentenza oggetto del presente lavoro riguarda una condanna per commercio di sostanze alimentari nocive, punito a titolo di colpa, in applicazione dell'art. 452 c.p. in relazione all'art. 444 c.p., per la presenza in una confezione di latte destinato al consumo umano di microrganismi del tipo Bacillus licheniformis. Parte del latte, nel quale è stata appurata la presenza del citato batterio, veniva ingerito, nella misura di un bicchiere, da una consumatrice che, qualche ora dopo l'ingestione, lamentava vomito e algie addominali. Il rinvenimento nel latte di un microrganismo con caratteristiche peculiari che, a causa della sua presenza ubiquitaria nel suolo e nella polvere sotto forma sporigena, è un noto contaminante degli alimenti, nonchè, gli elementi probatori che hanno portato alla condanna dell'imputato destano numerose perplessità. Manca, infatti, da parte del Giudice l'accertamento della pericolosità in concreto dell'alimento in questione e il nesso tra consumo e danno alla salute

IL SUICIDIO MEDICALMENTE ASSISTITO: QUALI PROSPETTIVE FUTURE PER IL MEDICO?

Il tema del suicidio medicalmente assistito è da tempo intensamente dibattuto. Sebbene la materia sia ancora oggetto dell’inerzia legislativa, il cui intervento è atteso da più parti, oggi, finalmente, possiamo dire che la stessa ha subito una svolta ad opera della Corte costituzionale. La Consulta già nel 2018 con l’ordinanza n. 207 aveva formulato rilievi e conclusioni sul thema decidendum poi confermati con la sentenza n. 242 del 2019. Temi, questi, trattati nel presente lavoro che desidera offrire alcuni spunti di riflessione sulla materia da differenti prospettive. Numerose le conseguenze seguite alla decisione della Consulta, dall’assoluzione dell’imputato Marco Cappato, all’introduzione di indirizzi applicativi all’art. 17 del Codice Deontologico ad opera della FNOMCeO

ASPETTI MEDICO-LEGALI NELLA PANDEMIA DA SARS-COV-2

La situazione di emergenza che il Governo, e con esso i Governi di tutto il mondo, sebbene con scelte parzialmente differenti, ha dovuto affrontare per contenere la diffusione del virus SARS-CoV-2 ha comportato la necessità di operare delle scelte in ordine alle misure di contenimento dello stesso. Tali misure, attuate nel pieno dell’emergenza sanitaria e ospedaliera, hanno dovuto necessariamente comprimere alcuni diritti fondamentali dei cittadini che, più o meno improvvisamente, hanno dovuto accettare rinunce importanti. Sulla necessità di attuare simili misure non vi è dubbio mentre sulla legittimità delle misure, da più parti definite draconiane, il dibattito è aperto. Il presente lavoro, lungi da voler proporre una soluzione, si propone di offrire alcuni spunti di riflessione sul tema

L'omicidio-suicidio nel settorato dell'Unità di Medicina legale di Parma (2003-2012)

The research regards homicide-suicide (dyadic Death) autopsies which took place at the Unità di Medicina Legale in Parma from 2003 to 2012. Variables examinated in the analysis include age and sex of perpetrators and victims, type of weapon used, location of the homicide and results of toxicological investigation. The sex of offenders is predominantly male (M:F =4:1) and the victims were mostly female (M:F = 2:5). Firearms were the predominant method of Death in both homicides and suicides Relationships between offender-victim and the psychodynamic determinants leading upthe onset of homicides and suicides is then analyzed. Data were compared with the national and international scientific literature. The data emerging from the case histories were compared with those of autopsy cases of the same Unità di Medicina Legale relatively to the case of murder-suicide in the period 1983-2002. The comparison has partially confirmed the data collected from the previous survey, presenting some differences with respect to the weapon used and the type of interpersonal relationship between perpetrator and victim. The degree of relationship most frequently affected is that of the parent-child relationship. In conclusion, it is shown that only the teoretical analysis of these phenomena can structure campaigns to reduce the rate of Dangerousness and prevent this event