An overview of Metaverse in healthcare. Potential application in forensic and legal medicine

In this review, we holistically consider healthcare as an ecosystem that includes forensic pathology and legal medicine and probe why these areas have largely ignored the use of Metaverse. This effort is directed at understanding the potential impact of virtual worlds on these areas and ultimately asks if forensic sciences are missing an opportunity or multiple opportunities. We reviewed the scientific literature to identify clinical trials and observational or other study types using PubMed Central, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane, including terms related to the Metaverse and healthcare, with a screen of 1,200 relevant articles. Applications were from future clinical applications, training, treatment, prediction/prevention, and diagnosis, focusing on finding blanks in forensic and legal medicine. The study carried out in-depth research with the Metaverse regarding all areas of medicine. Despite this, significant forensic pathology or legal medicine research has yet to be identified. The gap may implicate a critical oversight in forensic areas, specifically autopsies, crime scene investigation, and field reconstruction of legal cases that could benefit from implementing virtual simulations. In this regard, incorporating virtual environments in these areas can provide new training tools, case scenarios, and even a revision mechanism for cold cases, leading to an essential trend in the evolution of legal medicine.