Psychomotor developmental delay and epilepsy in an offspring of father–daughter incest: quantification of the causality probability

摘要

A 20-year-old offspring of father–daughter incest, who has been suffering from serious psychomotoric health problems since early childhood, is seeking financial compensation under the German federal act of victim indemnification. For her appeal to be valid, the probability X that the incest was causal for her disorder must exceed 50%. Based upon the available medical records, we show that this is indeed the case and that X is even likely to exceed 65%, thereby rendering the victim’s claim scientifically and legally justified.