Avaliação do dano corporal pós-traumático por acidentes de viação e de trabalho em Angola

Abstract

Bodily harm assessment on traffic and work accidents victims’ in Angola In Angola there isn’t an official norm for forensic evaluation of post-traumatic bodily harm, indicated for each scope of the Law in which it takes place. The entity that supervises the evaluation of this harm, in order to enable its compensation sums, is the National Commission of Evaluation of Work Disabilities, but most examinations of traffic or work related accidents are made by the insurance companies. These examinations can also be made by the Department of Legal Medicine of the Angolan National Board of Criminal Investigation, which is mainly focused on examinations for Penal Law. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze and interpret, from the medico-legal and forensic point of view, the procedures of the evaluation of bodily harm on traffic or work victims in Angola, as well as the current situation of those evaluations, focusing on a contribution for the promotion of a methodology of evaluation that if suitable to the legal system, may serve as an instrument to improve the evaluation and restore of bodily harm in that country. An observation study was carried out, with an analytical component, that consisted in an analysis of 301 medical reports, elaborated in the year 2010, on the health department of the National Insurance Company of Angola, concerning the evaluation of post-traumatic bodily harm in traffic accidents (n=104) and work (n=197), and the corresponding compensation sums. Medical reports: (1) do not describe the pathological and traumatic background of the victim; (2) describe the trauma/accident but with no details; (3) in 3% of the cases do no refer to injuries that resulted from the accident nor to the location of those injuries; (5) in almost 100% do not describe functional nor situational sequels; (6) the causality between trauma and damage is never mentioned; (7) in 66% of the cases do not mention the date of the medico-legal consolidation of the injuries; (8) in 54% of the cases do not mention the temporary bodily harm parameters; (9) in 99% of the cases do not mention the permanent bodily harm parameters. Accordingly, a profound reflection is necessary about the problem concerning de value of post-traumatic bodily harm caused by traffic or work accidents in Angola, and it is necessary to outline and regulate a methodology, that will be fundamental to ensure the equity of the evaluation and, consequently, the justice of the compensation.