Ethico-legal conflict in daily forensic medical practice: two examples from Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract Forensic medicine is a branch of medicine specialising in the application of medical knowledge for the purposes of administration of the law and judicial proceeding. In order to solve criminal cases related to human body, investigators usually seek medical advice from physicians since the doctors have a thorough knowledge of human body. Therefore, only medical officers are authorised to examine the human body because of their competency. As medical doctors, forensic medicine specialists certainly bind to medical ethics. However, there are lots of conflicts between “ought” and “must” while applying these principles of medical ethics in Indonesian legal system. This paper will discuss the ethico-legal conflicts in investigation phase, which are usually related to medico-legal autopsy. Then, the ethico-legal conflicts in trial phase, which are frequently associated with giving evidence as an expert witness before the court, will be addressed.