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Death scene investigation after natural disaster or other weather-related events : a toolkit
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2017
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Description:The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed this toolkit in collaboration with National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago and a workgroup of leading subject matter experts. The toolkit gives death scene investigators and death certifiers a common framework for collecting and documenting disaster-related information. It includes various event-specific data collection tools designed to help death scene investigators investigate deaths that occurred during natural disasters and weather-related events. Information related to the circumstances of disaster or weather-related deaths can provide key information to the medical examiner or coroner as they certify the death. Documenting the disaster-specific data elements identified in the forms and checklists in this toolkit will make it easier to compare mortality data across jurisdictions. Use of these forms and checklists will also increase the ability of public health practitioners to accurately assess the burden of natural disasters, identify risk and protective factors, and develop prevention strategies. The toolkit provides resources that can be adapted and used across different jurisdictions in the United States and its territories.
Through a review of the published and grey literature exploring how death scene data are collected and used to determine whether the death was disaster-related, the authors found considerable variation in the use of death scene data collection tools.1 This toolkit was developed collaboratively with the medical examiners and coroners, forensic pathologists, death scene investigators, forensic anthropologists, and epidemiologists, who served on the project workgroup, to address the need for more consistent data collection after a disaster. Initial drafts of the tools were developed over a six-month period during workgroup meetings and an in-person workshop. Additional death scene investigators were asked to pilot the forms by conducting a retrospective review of a previous disaster-related death. This toolkit contains the final versions of the tools and has been reviewed by the workgroup members.
Suggested citation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Death Scene Investigation After Natural Disaster or Other Weather-Related Events Toolkit: First edition. Atlanta (GA): CDC; 2017.
DeathSceneInvestigation508.pdf
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