PropertyValue
?:abstract
  • OBJECTIVES: To review the response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in a forensics center that integrates an academic department of pathology with multiple regional county medical examiners’ offices. METHODS: Faculty and staff were asked to volunteer stories, data, and photographs describing their activities from March through May 2020. The information was assembled into a narrative summary. RESULTS: Increased deaths challenged capacity limits in a hospital morgue and a large urban medical examiner’s office (MEO) successfully managed by forensic teams and monitored by an institutional command center. Autopsies of suspected and proven cases of COVID-19 were performed in both facilities. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing of decedents was performed in a MEO serving a large urban area. Scene investigators worked directly with families to meet needs unique to a pandemic. Artful photographs of decedent’s hands and/or tattoos were offered to those unable to have in-person viewings. Pathologists and social workers were available to families of the deceased and created novel solutions to facilitate the grieving process. CONCLUSIONS: Forensic pathology is important to successfully navigating emerging diseases like the COVID-19 pandemic. Direct conversations with families are common in forensic pathology and serve as a model for patient- and family-centered care.
?:creator
?:doi
?:doi
  • 10.1093/ajcp/aqaa106
?:journal
  • Am_J_Clin_Pathol
?:license
  • no-cc
?:pdf_json_files
  • document_parses/pdf_json/7ed4a3cea8a56f9f97f25da2ce99ce619e94554d.json
?:pmc_json_files
  • document_parses/pmc_json/PMC7337676.xml.json
?:pmcid
?:pmid
?:pmid
  • 32556078.0
?:publication_isRelatedTo_Disease
?:sha_id
?:source
  • Medline; PMC
?:title
  • Frontline Workers in the Backrooms of COVID-19: Caring for the Living and the Dead
?:type
?:year
  • 2020-06-17

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