The study found that although "functional disability" and "total loss of function" were subjective decisions, the objectivity of these decisions in forensic reports could be increased by using the electrophysiological severity scale (ESS) scores based on electromyography (EMG). In the forensic reports on 106 patients completed between 2002 and 2004, 34 percent of the cases (n=36) were reported as "total loss of function," 41.5 percent (n=44) were reported as "functional disability," and there was no dysfunction found in other cases. An examination of the reports based on ESS scores found that all of the ESS score 2 patients and 86.7 percent of the score 3 patients were determined to have "total loss of function." There was a significant correlation between the ESS scores and the conclusions of forensic reports when the Spearman rank correlation analysis was applied. The sample of patients (n=106) had been sent by Turkish courts to the Mersin University Faculty of Medicine Department of Forensic Medicine between 2002 and 2004. The legal reports requested pertained to whether the patients had "functional disability" and "total loss of function." Forensic reports included information on the patient's age, sex, types of traumas, injured nerves, electrophysiological severity scale scores, and conclusions. 3 tables and 25 references