Forensic Medicine and Forensic Sciences in Portugal

Abstract

The first legal texts to contain any rules relating forensic medicine expertises in Portugal date back to the 16th century. But the qualitative leap that actually allowed Portuguese Forensic Medicine to develop, bringing it to the stage where it is today, only occurred three centuries later, in the 19th century. Indeed, the first university teaching of forensic medicine appeared in 1836, with independent courses bearing this title, and in 1899 the first official forensic medical services were set up. A number of changes took place thereafter, and throughout the 20th century, always serving to improve the system. They culminated in a thorough reorganisation of the entire framework of forensic medicine in Portugal in the transition from the 20th to the 21st century, more exactly in 2000/1001. This consisted of unifying the Portuguese forensic medical services in a single National Institute of Legal (Forensic) Medicine (“Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal” - INML). In the following pages we shall concentrate particularly on the present situation of forensic medicine and other forensic sciences in Portugal and on the glimmering future prospects.