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Viewpoint

Vol. 147 No. 3738 (2017)

Medico-legal issues of body packing: what do clinicians need to know?

  • Simone Cappelletti
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4414/smw.2017.14494
Cite this as:
Swiss Med Wkly. 2017;147:w14494
Published
13.09.2017

References

  1. United Nation Office for Drug and Crime. (2016). World Drug Report. https://www.unodc.org/doc/wdr2016/WORLD_DRUG_REPORT_2016_web.pdf.
  2. Traub SJ, Hoffman RS, Nelson LS. Body packing - the internal concealment of illicit drugs. N Engl J Med. 2003;349(26):2519-26. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra022719
  3. Tzvetkova M, Pardal M, Disley E, Rena A, Talic S, Forberger S. Strategies for a risky business: How drug dealers manage customers, suppliers and competitors in Italy, Slovenia and Germany. Int J Drug Policy. 2016;31:90-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.04.012
  4. Cappelletti S, Piacentino D, Sani G, Bottoni E, Fiore PA, Aromatario M, Ciallella C. Systematic review of the toxicological and radiological features of body packing. Int J Legal Med. 2016;130:693-709. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-015-1310-3
  5. Heymann-Maier L, Trueb L, Schmidt S, Carron PN, Hugli O, Heymann E, Yersin B. Emergency department management of body-packers and body-stuffers: a consecutive series of 132 cases. Swiss Med Wkly. 2017;146:w14499. https://smw.ch/en/article/doi/smw.2017.14499
  6. Booker RJ, Smith JE, Rodger MP. Packers, pushers and stuffers-managing patients with concealed drugs in UK emergency departments: a clinical and medicolegal review. Emerg Med J. 2009;26:316-20. https://doi.org/10.1136/emj.2008.057695
  7. Cappelletti S, Ciallella C. Commentary on a case of body pushing and radiation exposure in screening of body packing. Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2017 May 10. doi:.https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-017-9872-7
  8. Council Directive 97/43/Euratom of 30 June 1997 on health protection of individuals against the dangers of ionizing radiation in relation to medical exposure, and repealing Directive 84/466/Euratom.1997. http://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/ publication/aa7564fa-fd07-4872-943c-66df8f4f1099/language-en.
  9. Dangers arising from ionising radiation, Council Directive 96/29/Euratom, European Union. http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/employment_and_social_policy/health_hygine_safety_at_work/c11142_en.htm.
  10. Magnusson T. The role of X-rays in drug detection In: EU (2003), radiation protection no. 130 – medico-legal exposures with ionising radiation without medical indication. Proceedings of the international symposium. 2002:56-8.
  11. Cappelletti S, Ciallella C. Commentary on false negative findings of plain radiographs in body packing. Clin Imaging. 2017 May 15; pii: S0899-7071(17)30092-X. [Epub ahead of print]
  12. Cawich SO, Williams EW, Evans NR, Johnson P. Occupational hazard: treating cocaine body packers in Caribbean countries. Int J Drug Policy. 2009;20:377-80. doi:.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2008.06.005