Death by work: consideration from forensic case study on the relationship between suicide and workrelated distress

Abstract

The purpose of this contribution is to provide some insights into the phenomenon of distress which, in particular work contexts and at certain historicalsocial junctures, provokes in some individuals not only a clinical disorder integral to a condition of socalled occupational, but also psychopathological pictures such as to motivate a real suicidal choice; that is, a frankly selfdestructive option in which are always and in any case called into play all those factors that must be examined in medicalassessment where it is necessary to verify the existence or nonexistence of a causal link between the psychophysical
conditions of the worker at the time of his death and the type of professional activity he carried out at these precise junctures. Given that such realities have increased especially during the period of national health emergency from COVID19 pandemic in the years 20202022, an expert case is taken as a starting point and, with technical inputs from the socalled psychological autopsy, the problem of causation
in such cases is examined.