Hanzlick Randy, Smith Geoffrey P
Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30312, USA.
Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2006 Mar;27(1):79-84. doi: 10.1097/01.paf.0000203155.45920.fd.
Multiple methods may be employed in an attempt to identify deceased individuals who are unidentified when reported to the medical examiner or coroner. The success and turnaround times of various methods differ.
To determine the number of deaths initially involving unidentified individuals, their demographics, the methods used and turnaround times for cases in which identification was successful and the portion of cases that remain unidentified for significant periods of time.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Retrospective case review of all decedents who were initially unidentified when death was reported to the Fulton County Medical Examiner in Atlanta, Georgia, during a 1-year period between May 2003 and May 2004.
Rate per 1000 deaths which involved an unidentified decedent, tabulation of methods used to make identifications, and rate of cases remaining unidentified.
Of 2279 deaths reported to the office, 100 were originally unidentified, resulting in a rate of 44 unidentified decedents per 1000 deaths reported. Those who remained unidentified involved 6 cases, resulting in a "cold case" rate of 2.6 per 1000 deaths. Seventy-eight percent were identified within 2 days, and the most common successful methods were visual identification (52%) and fingerprints (31%). Dental (10%), x-ray (4%), and other methods (6%) were least commonly used. Of the 94 persons identified, all identifications occurred within 29 days. DNA procedures were not needed in most cases, and in the few cases where such tests were needed, results were either unavailable or failed to show a match with known samples.
The majority of unidentified deceased individuals were identified within 2 days, with visual verification or fingerprints accounting for about 83% of methods successfully employed. The medical examiner noted a rate of 44 unidentified deceased persons per 1000 death reports, with an ultimate "cold case" (long-term unidentified) rate of about 2.6 cases per 1000 death reports. These data may be useful in developing office policy and procedure regarding the procedural and temporal aspects of investigations centered on achieving identification and making dispositions of unidentified deceased bodies.
为了识别那些向法医或验尸官报告时身份不明的死者，可能会采用多种方法。不同方法的成功率和周转时间各不相同。
确定最初涉及身份不明人员的死亡人数、他们的人口统计学特征、所使用的方法以及身份识别成功的案件的周转时间，以及长时间内仍身份不明的案件比例。
设计、地点和参与者：对2003年5月至2004年5月期间向佐治亚州亚特兰大富尔顿县法医报告死亡时最初身份不明的所有死者进行回顾性病例审查。
每1000例死亡中涉及身份不明死者的比例、用于身份识别的方法列表以及身份仍未查明的病例比例。
向该办公室报告的2279例死亡中，有100例最初身份不明，导致每1000例报告死亡中有44例身份不明的死者。仍身份不明的有6例，导致“悬案”率为每1000例死亡中有2.6例。78%的死者在2天内得到身份识别，最常用的成功方法是目视识别（52%）和指纹识别（31%）。牙科（10%）、X光（4%）和其他方法（6%）使用最少。在94名身份得到识别的人中，所有身份识别均在29天内完成。大多数情况下不需要DNA检测，在少数需要此类检测的情况下，结果要么无法获得，要么未能显示与已知样本匹配。
大多数身份不明的死者在2天内得到身份识别，目视核实或指纹识别约占成功采用方法的83%。法医指出，每1000份死亡报告中有44例身份不明的死者，最终“悬案”（长期身份不明）率约为每1000份死亡报告中有2.6例。这些数据可能有助于制定办公室政策和程序，涉及以实现身份识别和处理身份不明尸体为中心的调查的程序和时间方面。
