HYMEN AS AN OBJECT OF FORENSIC MEDICAL OBSTETRIC AND GYNECOLOGICAL EXPERTISE AND ERRORS IN ITS STUDY

Abstract

The aim of the work was to assess the morphofunctional status of the hymen in children and to demonstrate the most frequent mistakes made by forensic experts in its study. The sample included 323 cases of forensic medical expertise, during which the hymen was examined in female children. Statistical processing of the data was descriptive: the results were shown as absolute values, percentages, medians and their 95% confidence intervals, first and third quartiles. Before calculating some of these criteria, the distribution of the data was determined. In the general population, the hymen in children most often has the following morphological and functional characteristics: ring-shaped; low or medium; elastic; significantly extensible; with notches on the free edge; with a middle hymenal opening; «miscellaneous» histological type. For all these characteristics, the corresponding 95% confidence intervals were calculated, which did not intersect with others, and their ranges, in quantitative terms, were the largest. That is why the information obtained was extrapolated to the general population. When studying the hymen, forensic medical experts are least likely to evaluate the following parameters: elasticity and extensibility. The lack of an adequate assessment of them may call into question the subsequent expert conclusions.