No cash no whiplash?: Influence of the legal system on the incidence of whiplash injury

Represas, C.; Vieira, D.N.; Magalhães, T.; Dias, R.; Frazão, S.; Suárez-Peñaranda, J.M.; Rodríguez-Calvo, M.S.; Concheiro, L.; Muñoz, J.I.

doi:10.1016/j.jflm.2007.12.016

« Previous Next »Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine
Volume 15, Issue 6 , Pages 353-355, August 2008

No cash no whiplash?: Influence of the legal system on the incidence of whiplash injury☆

Presented in part at the 17th Meeting of the International Association of Forensic Sciences, Hong Kong, August 21–26, 2005.

C. Represas, MD, PhD
- Institute of Legal Medicine, Facultad de Medicina, University of Santiago de Compostela, C/San Francisco s/n, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
D.N. Vieira, MD, PhD
- National Institute of Legal Medicine, Coimbra, Portugal
T. Magalhães, MD, PhD
- National Institute of Legal Medicine, Porto, Portugal
R. Dias, MD
- National Institute of Legal Medicine, Porto, Portugal
S. Frazão, MD
- National Institute of Legal Medicine, Porto, Portugal
J.M. Suárez-Peñaranda, MD, PhD
- Department of Pathology and Forensic Science, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
M.S. Rodríguez-Calvo, MD, PhD
- Department of Pathology and Forensic Science, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
L. Concheiro, MD, PhD
- Department of Pathology and Forensic Science, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
J.I. Muñoz, MD, PhD
- Institute of Legal Medicine, Facultad de Medicina, University of Santiago de Compostela, C/San Francisco s/n, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 981582327; fax: +34 981580336.

Received 15 May 2007; accepted 31 December 2007.

Abstract

Whiplash injury has been a continuous source of controversy due to its association with litigation. We studied the incidence of whiplash associated disorder (WAD) in two similar socioeconomic areas and carried out a retrospective study based on the hypothesis that the Spanish law 30/1995 might have an affect on the incidence and duration of cervical symptoms and the persistence of impairment. More than 10,000 patients injured in traffic accidents were studied over a period three years. Of these, only patients with an initial diagnosis of whiplash injury were included in the study. Patients with other injuries were excluded. The patients were classified into two groups: Galicia-Spain and North-Central Portugal (depending on where the accident took place and the medico-legal evaluation procedure in force). Statistical analysis was made using SPSS 13.0 and Statistix 8.0. We found a statistically significant difference between Spain and Portugal in the incidence of WAD and in the duration of symptoms. The incongruities caused by the compulsory application of Spanish law arise from the fact that evaluation on a points scale of impairment does not always reflect the functional state of the injured person.

Keywords: Whiplash incidence, Traffic, Assessment, Portugal, Spain