Comparison of Medico-Legal Cases Presenting to the Emergency Department Before and After the February 6, 2023 Turkey-Syria Earthquakes.

BACKGROUND: Among natural disasters, earthquakes cause the greatest destruction and are the most devastating. In this study, we examined medico-legal cases presenting to the emergency department and investigated the effect of the earthquake on medico-legal incidents in the society. METHODS: Medico-legal cases that presented to the emergency department of a tertiary level training and research hospital within the 6-month period prior to February 6, 2023 (the date of the earthquakes) and within the 6-month period after the earthquakes were reviewed and compared. Due to the retrospective design of the study, the requirement for informed patient consent was waived. RESULTS: During the study period, 9,679 medico-legal cases presented to the emergency department, and 8,247 met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 4,978 occurred in the pre-earthquake period and 3,269 in the post-earthquake period. The demographic characteristics differed between periods, with a higher proportion of female patients and a higher mean age in the post-earthquake period. The distribution of medico-legal case types shifted significantly following the disaster. While custody-forensic examinations were the most frequent category prior to the earthquakes, their numbers notably declined afterward, making traffic accidents and assault-battery the predominant cases. Notably, suicide-related poisonings increased among patients without a previous history of psychiatric illness, and there was a marked rise in carbon monoxide exposure and construction-related occupational injuries. CONCLUSION: The disaster and its subsequent socio-economic disruptions profoundly altered the profile of medico-legal cases presenting to the emergency department. The observed increase in traffic accidents, construction-related occupational injuries, and atypical poisoning patterns underscore the necessity for customized post-disaster public health interventions and agile resource allocation in emergency care systems.