Personal Injury and Damage Ascertainment Under Civil Law: State-Of-The-Art International Guidelines: 2016

This volume serves to provide an international overview of personal injury compensation in different geographical areas (15 countries already included), with a special focus on the methods used to ascertain the injury and the related damages. It also goes on to clarify the logical and methodological steps required for a sequential, in-depth ascertainment of any traumatic event and the related personal damage, both pecuniary and non-pecuniary. Personal injury is a legal term for an injury to the

body, mind or emotions suffered by the plaintiff under tort and/or civil law

regulations. Damages related to the injury can be pecuniary or non-pecuniary in

nature. Although several comparative studies and research projects on tort and

civil law and personal injury claims aimed at developing new tools for

promoting harmonization of private law have been performed at an international

level, heterogeneity and divergences still exist in the definition and

compensation of personal injury and damage across different national legislative

systems. The starting point for any awarding procedure should be a medical, or rather a

medico-legal, assessment to gain evidence on the trauma or event causing the

injury, the mechanism of injury, the pre-existing health status of the injured

party, and the health consequences of the injury (temporary and permanent

impairment, work incapacity, etc.). In order to pursue the ultimate goal of an

international harmonization of personal injury compensation, it is of upmost

importance to define the quality requirements for the medico-legal

ascertainment methodology, which are essential for guaranteeing the

objectivity, rigor, and reproducibility of the data and the evidence collection

procedure. Currently, there are no supra-national medico-legal guidelines dealing

with the ascertainment methodology of personal injury and damage under tort and

civil law.

Prof. Dr. Santo Davide Ferrara, University of Padova, Institute of Legal Medicine, Padova, Italy

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About Santo Davide Ferrara