Unit of Forensic Medicine

PRESENTATION   |   SERVICES   |   RESEARCH & TRAINING   |   FAQ

Presentation

The URMF is part of the Forensic Medicine and Imaging Section (SMIF) 

Main tasks

The Unité romande de médecine forensique (URMF) carries out, at the request of the judicial authorities, forensic examinations that help solve criminal or civil investigations. It is the link between the medical field and the judicial world.

The URMF also receives special mandates. These are mainly requests for expert opinions from national and international institutions (individuals, lawyers, national and international institutions). But it can also act in special circumstances such as in the identification of victims of mass disasters of natural (landslides, tsunami, etc.) or human origin (transport accidents, victims of conflicts, etc.).

Fields of activity

he main fields of activity of the RMU are thanatological examinations (autopsy), clinical expertise (findings of traumatic injuries and sexual assault) and file-based expertise. The unit also provides pre/post-graduate and continuing education in relation to various professions (physicians, paramedics, magistrates, lawyers, police officers, etc.), and is also active in the field of forensic medicine research.

In terms of prevention and public health, the early detection of a toxic substance in the body (e.g. carbon monoxide) can prevent further poisoning. The detection of a hereditary genetic disease in a deceased person allows the search for the same genetic trait in other family members and thus makes it possible to set up a treatment.

Staff and intercantonal agreements of collaboration

• The Unité romande de Médecine Forensique (URMF) is located on two sites (Lausanne and Geneva) and includes the forensic histopathology and immunohistochemistry laboratory (on the Geneva site).
• Since From April 2012, within the framework of a new agreement with the Valais, a forensic medicine unit was opened in Sion within the Valais Hospital. Apart from autopsies, a large part of the tasks of the forensic pathology unit are carried out on site by Dr. Bettina Schrag who, in addition to holding the position of assistant physician at the Health Network of Valais (RSV), maintains an affiliation with the URMF.
• In the canton of Neuchâtel, the Centre Universitaire de Médecine Légale (CURML) has been collaborating with a forensic pathologist, Dr. Rolf Jeanmonod, for over 20 years. Autopsies are performed at the CURML, Lausanne site.
• Under a new agreement, external examinations and autopsies entrusted to CURML by the public prosecutor's office of the canton of Fribourg are carried out at the CURML site in Lausanne.
• In the canton of Ticino, physicians from the URMF have contributed to the training of primary care physicians in forensic medicine for the management of body removal.

  
Head of the french-speaking unit of forensic medicine (URMF): Prof. Dr Tony Fracasso

• Partener Valais: Bettina Schrag, Tania Hervet, Marie Schwery, forensic physician
• Partner Neuchâtel: Rolf Jeanmonod, forensic physician
• Consultant odontologist: Nikolaos M. Angelakopoulos

The URMF also welcomes trainees for varying periods of time, including medical students and foreign doctors specializing in forensic medicine.

Equipments

• Autopsy room with an operating microscope
• Optical microscops
• CT-Scan and MRI investigations are carried out by the UIAF unit.