Legal Medicine in France. An Occupational Group Segmented between Judicial Expertise and Medical Specialty

This article tackles the subject of legal medicine in France as a discipline that is stretched between the judicial expert assessment model and the medical specialty model. More than occasional collaborators of the judge, though less than holders of a specific specialty title, forensic scientists and medical examiners have a subspecialty in addition to their original medical education. This is the reason why trajectories of forensic pathologists and medical examiners are so contrasted from the Law enthusiasts to those disillusioned by the care. Finally, a great diversity of medical resources are implemented to serve justice. Consequently, this paper aims at clarifying the medicolegal landscape by highlighting the segmentation processes of forensic medicine by studying both the diversity of expertise and the different kinds of versatility of the experts. Furthermore, this article’s ambition is to demonstrate how the process of encountering legal medicine and becoming a member of this occupational group differs according to the professional segment the expert has been socialised with.