Disaster Victim Identification in the 21st Century. Группа авторов

the first quarter of the twenty-first century. Currently, the MEC jurisdictions that must handle DVI vary from large urban ones with self-sufficient morgue capabilities for even the largest MFIs to small rural ones with few assets and little training to handle mass fatalities. Federal assets, like DMORT, were designed for the MFIs of the mid-1990s, i.e., transportation accidents. This model of morgue deployment has far less utility in handling other disasters, like that occurring on our southern border with the undocumented deaths of immigrants crossing illegally into the United States. Can the MEC system meet the challenges of a changing role for DVI? Add to this the contrast upgrading of technology, like rapid DNA testing, and the disparity between MEC jurisdictions becomes even more pronounced. DVI, whether we retain the DMORT model, or some form of it, or move to a novel approach, it must be adaptable for it be relevant to the needs of the twenty-first century and the ever-changing theater of mass fatality disasters.

      Interlaced throughout the chapters of this book are references to law, domestic and occasionally international. The complexity of an MFI response would be far more difficult to approach if it were not for various legislative actions like the Stafford Act, FEMA, and the National Response Framework. These mandate and make possible our ability to respond to mass fatalities and carry out DVI. State responses are more varied but also contribute to the framework of DVI. In the end, though, it is the MEC jurisdiction and its legal requirement to establish cause of death, and, in so doing, identify the deceased, upon which DVI rests.

      How the dead should be treated falls under the umbrella of ethical conduct. Every person should have the right to be identified and be treated with dignity after death. A statement attributed to William Gladstone makes this point: “Show me the manner in which a nation cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness, the tender mercy of its people, their respect for the law of the land and their loyalty to high ideals.” If the recent work treating the victims of COVID-19 in New York City by DMORT are an indication, despite our country’s differences, on this we as Americans still agree.