CURRENT ISSUES OF FORENSIC MEDICINE IN THE CONDITIONS OF MILITARY ACTIONS
Authors: Kotsyubynska Yu. Z. 
Published: October 2022

Forensic medicine is a science that uses medical and general biological knowledge to solve issues that arise in the practice of law enforcement agencies. Therefore, the range of issues studied by forensic doctors is quite wide. This includes the study of death and cadaveric changes (forensic thanatology), the study of injuries (forensic traumatology), forensic medical examination of living persons regarding bodily injuries, sexual crimes, etc., forensic medical examination of material evidence, identification of a person, forensic medical examination in cases of medical errors and offenses and many others. The fact of military operations on the territory of Ukraine requires that in the training of medical students and interns in the field of «forensic medical examination», special attention should be paid to the issues that a doctor may encounter both in the combat zone and in rear health care facilities. After all, in the conditions of martial law, not only military personnel, but also medical workers are on the front line in the fight against military aggression. Therefore, it is important to pay great attention to the training of medical personnel at a high level, regardless of the difficulties faced by medical education institutions under martial law. That is why this article highlights the key points and problematic issues that must be paid attention in the course of training students and interns at the Department of Forensic Medicine and Medical Law. Algorithms for solving problematic practical tasks that arise before the forensic medical expert in the conditions of martial law are also proposed to ensure high professionalism and reliability of the performed forensic medical examinations. Thus, focusing the attention of forensic medics on the main principles and algorithms, highlighting and discussing problematic issues related to the actions of forensic medics in wartime, namely those issues related to the order of dissection of corpses, their identification and description of bodily injuries have the priority place and are able to significantly facilitate the work of forensic medical experts in such a difficult time. After all, every forensic medic who competently performs his work before conducting active military operations must be familiar with a clear algorithm of actions, which does not contradict the main provisions of Resolution No. 205 dated 03.05.2022 "On approval of the procedure for ensuring the collection of bodies (remains) of fallen military personnel of the state- of the aggressor (the Russian Federation), as well as illegal armed formations, in particular from the temporarily occupied territories in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions", which was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine with the beginning of a full-scale military invasion of the territory of Ukraine by the aggressor state. This resolution regulates the actions of military administrations, the territorial defense forces of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the National Police, the State Emergency Service, representatives of the relevant expert (medical) services, interested bodies and public organizations (associations), which are aimed at ensuring collection in the territories of military operations (armed confrontation) unburied bodies (remains) of fallen servicemen of the aggressor state (Russian Federation), as well as illegal armed formations, in particular from temporarily occupied territories in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (hereinafter - bodies), in order to prevent the deterioration of the sanitary and epidemic situations, the occurrence of dangerous infectious diseases on the territory of Ukraine.