National Institute of Forensic Medicine (IPFN), Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Pahang, 50586, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2024 Jun;20(2):579-594. doi: 10.1007/s12024-023-00683-6. Epub 2023 Jul 31.
Managing mass fatality incidents or disasters involving multiple deaths are not uncommon among forensic practitioners. In fact, management of unidentified or unknown bodies is also a vital component of the day-to-day mortuary work practice. The unidentified and subsequently unclaimed bodies have always been a "silent mass disaster," a problem that needs to be tackled within the forensic community and raises the global issue of ethics, law, and human rights. Unidentified bodies' in Malaysia make up an average of 4.02% of all death cases where a total postmortem examination was performed which is comparable with other developing countries within 4-10% which can go up to 25%. Moreover, unstandardized procedures in all mortuaries in different states and districts in Malaysia have worsened the scenario even with guidelines in place. This study aims to address the issues surrounding unidentified and unclaimed bodies including body disposal from a social and legal perspective using case study methodology by comparing four different countries in the Asia Pacific Region through document analysis and interview methods. One of the major findings is evident in 3 out of the 4 models, whereby there is a considerable gap in consolidating the missing person report and information to match with the unidentified bodies received in forensic institutions in an attempt to enhance the identification process which ultimately intends as a closure for the family members. It is also timely to think out of the box beyond dental records and DNA profiling to improve the identification rate for skeletonized remains through means of anthropology biometrics comparison. With the limited literature published surrounding this domain, it is hoped that the suggestions and recommendations to standardize the management of unidentified and unclaimed bodies can benefit many forensic institutions and public mortuaries in this region.
在法医从业者中，处理涉及多人死亡的大规模死亡事件或灾难并不罕见。事实上，管理身份不明或未知的尸体也是太平间日常工作实践的重要组成部分。身份不明的随后无人认领的尸体一直是一场“无声的大规模灾难”，这是法医界需要解决的问题，引发了全球伦理、法律和人权问题。在马来西亚，所有进行过全面尸检的死亡案例中，身份不明的尸体平均占 4.02%，这与其他发展中国家的 4-10%相当，甚至可能高达 25%。此外，马来西亚各州和地区不同太平间的标准化程序不完善，即使有指导方针，情况也会恶化。本研究旨在从社会和法律角度解决身份不明和无人认领的尸体问题，包括尸体处理问题，采用案例研究方法，通过文件分析和访谈方法比较亚太地区的四个不同国家。主要发现之一是在 4 个模型中的 3 个模型中明显存在差距，即在将失踪人员报告和信息与法医机构收到的身份不明尸体进行整合方面存在相当大的差距，试图加强识别过程，最终目的是为家属提供结束。超越牙科记录和 DNA 分析，通过人类学生物识别比较来提高对骨骼遗骸的识别率，也是一个及时的思考。鉴于围绕这一领域发表的文献有限，希望提出的建议和建议能使本地区的许多法医机构和公共太平间受益，对身份不明和无人认领的尸体进行标准化管理。
