National association of medical examiners position paper: Recommendations for the documentation and certification of disaster-related deaths

Kelly A. Keyes; Suzanne Utley; Ponni Arunkumar; Tara Das; Marcella f. Fierro; John Fudenberg; Brett e. Harding; Bryan a. Hoffmann; Kelly A. Keyes; Adele Lewis; Katherine Maloney; Bobbi jo O'neal; Kathryn Pinneri; Amy Rapkiewicz; Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran; Victor Weedn; Tiffany Williams

National association of medical examiners position paper

Recommendations for the documentation and certification of disaster-related deaths

Utley, S., Arunkumar, P., Das, T., Fierro, M. F., Fudenberg, J., Harding, B. E., Hoffmann, B. A., Keyes, K. A., Lewis, A., Maloney, K., O'neal, B. J., Pinneri, K., Rapkiewicz, A., Sathyavagiswaran, L., Weedn, V., & Williams, T. (2023). National association of medical examiners position paper: Recommendations for the documentation and certification of disaster-related deaths. American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, 44(3), E80-E90. https://doi.org/10.1097/PAF.0000000000000859

Copy citation

Abstract

Collecting and reporting accurate disaster mortality data are critical to informing disaster response and recovery efforts. The National Association of Medical Examiners convened an ad hoc committee to provide recommendations for the documentation and certification of disaster-related deaths. This article provides definitions for disasters and direct, indirect, and partially attributable disaster-related deaths; discusses jurisdiction for disaster-related deaths; offers recommendations for medical examiners/coroners (ME/Cs) for indicating the involvement of the disaster on the death certificate; discusses the role of the ME/C and non-ME/C in documenting and certifying disaster-related deaths; identifies existing systems for helping to identify the role of disaster on the death certificate; and describes disaster-related deaths that may require amendments of death certificates. The recommendations provided in this article seek to increase ME/C's understanding of disaster-related deaths and promote uniformity in how to document these deaths on the death certificate.