A doctor's legal duties in Colombia

The doctor as expert witness, the expert report, the death certificate (RUAF), reporting duties, medical liability and forensic psychiatry.

14 pages

Topic

• Criminal liability in medical practice: negligent homicide and injuryA doctor is criminally liable when, by breaching the duty of care, they cause a foreseeable…
• Criminal responsibility and inimputabilidad (Penal Code art. 33)A person is inimputable if, when acting, a disorder or immaturity left them unable to see the…
• The doctor as expert witness (perito) under Law 906 of 2004When the justice system needs medical knowledge, the doctor acts as an expert (perito)…
• The duty to report a crime and its limitsEveryone must report crimes that are prosecuted ex officio, but no one has to report themselves…
• The medical record as evidenceIn criminal proceedings the medical record is documentary evidence: it shows what was found…
• The National Institute of Legal Medicine and the forensic systemThe National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences gives scientific support to the…
• The rural doctor (SSO) as forensic examinerWhere there is no Legal Medicine office, the doctor in the mandatory social service may be asked…

Law

• Law 1996 of 2019: legal capacity of adults with disabilityLaw 1996 of 2019 recognises the full legal capacity of adults with disability, banned…
• Missing persons and unidentified bodies in ColombiaColombia requires a search for every missing person, a record of every unidentified body and a…

Finding

• Malingering in forensic settingsMalingering is producing or exaggerating symptoms on purpose to gain an external benefit, such…

Procedure

• Testifying as an expert at the oral trialAt the oral trial the expert explains the report in person: first the party that called them…
• The death certificate in RUAF-NDThe doctor who confirms a death issues the death certificate in the Ministry of Health's RUAF-ND…
• The expert report (dictamen pericial): what it must containThe expert report is the expert's written statement: what was examined, with what method, what…
• The forensic psychiatric evaluationA forensic psychiatric evaluation answers an authority's question about a person's mental state…

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← Forensic and legal medicine

Educational content on forensic and legal medicine; not legal advice and no substitute for the technical guides of Colombia's National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences. Laws change: each page links the official text and says when it was last checked. For a real case, follow the guide in force and ask the competent authority.

Representative model, for educational purposes only.