The role of international organizations and international law in protecting minors from implication in life and health threatening illegal activities

The subject of this research is the role of international organizations, as well as legal acts adopted on the international level aimed at protecting the rights and ensuring security of minors, namely with regards to implication  in illegal activities that threaten their life and health. The author aims to determine the international legal basis for the emergence of the norms in national criminal legislation that protect minors from such violations. Emphasis is placed on the process of establishment of international legal protection of minors, and the role of international organizations therein. Special attention is given to the corresponding regional international documents, which contain innovative provisions that should be included into the framework acts. The novelty of this research lies in comprehensive analysis of the international legal grounds for protection of minors from implication in illegal activities that threaten their life and health. The conclusion is made that the list of measures for the protection of minors established by the international acts is constantly expanding; despite the fact that the international acts and decisions of international organizations do not contain the norms that explicitly stipulate the responsibility of the states to ensure protection of minors from implication in illegal activities, the responsibility on establishing such protection stems from the norms that declare the need to protect minors from negligent treatment, engagement in negative social practices, as well as ensuring their information security. Therefore, the inclusion of the norm 151.2 “Implication of a minor in commission of life and health threatening actions” into the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has solid foundation associated with the acts of international law and activity of international organizations.

Epidemiological and Forensic Aspects of Physical Abuse of Minors

Child abuse is a phenomenon whose magnitude remains unknown in Africa. It includes all forms of physical and/or emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, or commercial exploitation.This is a prospective descriptive study, with systematic case-by-case recruitment of victims of physical abuse of minors received in the forensic medicine department of the Ignace Deen National Hospital over a twelve (12) month period, from July 20, 2016 to July 19, 2017.The study included 218 cases of child abuse out of 1110 patients who were seen for any reason, a proportion of 20%. Victims aged between 11 and 15 years old were the most represented with 46.7% and more than half were out of school with 59.6%, girls were the most represented in our study with 73.3% with a sex ratio M/F = 0.36. The relationship between the victim and the aggressor was familial in (44%). The injuries were found all over the body. 77.60% of the victims had a total work disability of less than or equal to 20 days. Physical abuse is common in Conakry. Young subjects are the most affected, especially student summary. Minors constitute a fragile population, dependent and vulnerable to the assaults to which they are subjected, both inside and outside the family sphere.

Expats and Workers

This chapter examines foreign labor in Qatar from opposing ends of the employment spectrum. On one side are professional-class expatriates with terminal degrees from prestigious Western universities; on the other are low-wage migrants who toil six days per week in Qatar’s service and construction sectors. These groups are physically segregated from each other, and a number of institutional and cultural mechanisms symbolically isolate Qataris from expatriates. This stratification is illustrated through everything from residential zoning laws and hiring practices to homes and clothing. Both sets of workers are part of Qatar’s sponsorship labor system, which gives them limited protections from deportation should trouble arise. Professional-class expatriates develop interactive strategies that attempt physical or symbolic affinity with Qataris, seeking whatever residual benefits such proximity has to offer. Low-wage laborers from non-Western nations have fewer options. On their one day off per week, low-wage laborers are prohibited from entering shopping malls, among the few free public, air-conditioned spaces in a country where temperatures regularly exceed one hundred degrees. The negligent treatment of low-wage migrant workers contributed to a tragic incident at a Doha shopping mall that lays bare the disconnect between Qatari nationals and expatriates.

Medical Error – Should it be a Criminal Offence?

Medicine is a risky profession where medical professionals have a duty to do anything in their power to help their patients. However, what if a doctor makes a grievous mistake that leads to the death but could have been avoided? Are moral responsibility and apology to patients’ family enough? Should we impose sanctions (civil or criminal) on the doctor who negligently caused the patients’ death? To answer this questions, we present arguments against criminalisation of medical error, where the strongest arguments are uncertainty of medical standards, counterproductive criminalisation seen in defensive medicine, using criminal law as the last resort, and the argument of doctor’s immunity. On the other hand, arguments for criminalisation are obvious negligent treatment with serious consequences, general prevention of future negligent conduct, sanitation of a medical system gone wrong, and the argument of privileged criminal offence. Our conclusion is that criminal law repression of medical malpractice or medical error is justified, however only in the most obvious cases of undisputed negligence or carelessness of a doctor, where his inappropriate conduct has led to a serious deterioration of health of a patient, which could have easily been avoided, if a doctor respected the practice and rules of medical science and profession.

‘Have you any recollection of what occurred at all?’: Davis v. Colchester County Hospital and Medical Negligence in Interwar Canada

The history of medical malpractice in Canada has received little attention from legal or medical historians. Through a contextualized study of a Nova Scotia case from the 1930s, Davis v. Colchester County Hospital, this article demonstrates how changes in technology and surgical procedures both created situations that spurred malpractice claims, and made it difficult for injured patients to prove medical negligence. In addition, developments in tort law concerning the liability of hospitals, and the doctors and nurses working within them, provided medical defendants ample opportunity to avoid legal liability, even in cases in which the existence of negligent treatment was obvious. The testimony at trial, the legal strategies utilized by the lawyers, and the judicial rulings also shed light on attitudes of the medical profession toward personal responsibility and ethics, and demonstrates how the interests of patients were weighed against those of medical institutions and professionals by lawyers and judges.

Emotional Disturbances and Child Sexual Abuse: A Psychosocial Perspective

Child abuse has many forms: physical, emotional, sexual, neglect, and exploitation. Any of these that are potentially or actually harmful to a child’s health, survival, dignity and development are abuse. Violence against children can be “physical and mental abuse and injury, neglect or negligent treatment, exploitation and sexual abuse”. Research conducted over the past decade indicates that a wide range of psychological and interpersonal problems are more prevalent among those who have been sexually abused children than among individuals with no such experiences. This article summarizes what is currently known about these potential impacts of child sexual abuse. Various problems and symptoms described in the literature on child sexual abuse are reviewed in a series of broad categories including; Child sexual abuse, variety of sexual offenses, indications of sexual abuse in children and adolescents in terms of emotional and behavioural signs. In conclusion importance of psychotherapies have been mentioned as psychological intervention and was discussed few laws against child sexual abuse in the United States and India.

Forensic interpretation of the maxillary tuberosity fracture caused by tooth extraction

Background. Maxillary tuberosity during teeth extraction can occur in dental practice. The aim of this paper was to present a case of the maxillary tuberosity fracture occurred during tooth extraction, which was the subject of the forensic expertise. Case report. The maxillary tuberosity fracture created during the extraction of the upper molar was neither timely nor adequately managed by the doctor who started extraction. After the treatment at the specialist institution, the patient sued the doctor for the criminal offense of negligent treatment. The task of the expert was to give a professional answer to the question whether the doctor, who caused a maxillary tuberosity fracture during the tooth extraction, acted negligently and applied inadequate treatment. Conclusion. The maxillary tuberosity fracture during molar extraction may be its complication. If it is diagnosed promptly, immediately and adequately managed, there is no possibility for negligence action.

Tort Liability for Managed Care: The Weakening of ERISA's Protective Shield

The risk of tort liability for health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and other managed care plans has dramatically increased in recent years. This is due in part to the growing percentage of health care rendered through managed care plans. The cost-containment mechanisms commonly used by managed care plans, such as limiting access to services and/or choice of providers, creates a climate ripe for disputes that may end up in court. As dissatisfied patients and providers seek recourse in the courts, tort doctrines are extended and new legal theories emerge as needed. For example, the concepts of direct and vicarious tort liability developed in the hospital context have been extended by courts to encompass HMOs. vicarious liability claims, based on ostensible agency or respondeat superior doctrines, have been brought against HMOs and managed care plans for negligent treatment by physicians selected to provide care to members.