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. 2017 Jun 1;7(2):221-239.
doi: 10.23907/2017.023.

Medicolegal Death Scene Investigations After Natural Disaster- and Weather-Related Events: A Review of the Literature

Luciana A Rocha  1 , Catharine Q Fromknecht  1 , Sarah Davis Redman  2 , Joanne E Brady  3 , Sarah E Hodge  1 , Rebecca S Noe  4
Affiliations

Medicolegal Death Scene Investigations After Natural Disaster- and Weather-Related Events: A Review of the Literature

Luciana A Rocha et al. Acad Forensic Pathol. .

Erratum in

  • Errata.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] Acad Forensic Pathol. 2017 Dec;7(4):667-704. doi: 10.23907/2015.001a. Epub 2017 Dec 1. Acad Forensic Pathol. 2017. PMID: 31240016 Free PMC article.

Abstract

Background: The number of disaster-related deaths recorded by vital statistics departments often differs from that reported by other agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-National Weather Service storm database and the American Red Cross. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched an effort to improve disaster-related death scene investigation reporting practices to make data more comparable across jurisdictions, improve accuracy of reporting disaster-related deaths, and enhance identification of risk and protective factors. We conducted a literature review to examine how death scene data are collected and how such data are used to determine disaster relatedness.

Methods: Two analysts conducted a parallel search using Google and Google Scholar. We reviewed published peer-reviewed articles and unpublished documents including relevant forms, protocols, and worksheets from coroners, medical examiners, and death scene investigators.

Results: We identified 177 documents: 32 published peer-reviewed articles and 145 other documents (grey literature). Published articles suggested no consistent approach for attributing deaths to a disaster. Researchers generally depended on death certificates to identify disaster-related deaths; several studies also drew on supplemental sources, including medical examiner, coroner, and active surveillance reports.

Conclusions: These results highlight the critical importance of consistent, accurate data collection during a death investigation. Review of the grey literature found variation in use of death scene data collection tools, indicating the potential for widespread inconsistency in data captured for routine reporting and public health surveillance. Findings from this review will be used to develop guidelines and tools for capturing disaster-related death investigation data.

Keywords: Forensic pathology; Mass fatality management; Medical examiners and coroners; Medicolegal death investigation; Mortality surveillance; Natural disaster.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures: The authors, reviewers, editors, and publication staff do not report any relevant conflicts of interest. The findings and conclusions in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Approach to searching the literature for death scene investigation related to disasters and flow chart of documents included in the review.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Issuing death certificates during a mass fatality event, excerpt from “Death Certificates and Permits for Disposition of Human Remains” in Managing Mass Fatalities: A Toolkit for Planning (22).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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