National Association of Medical Examiners Position Paper: Recommendations for the Documentation and Certification of Disaster-Related Deaths.

Collecting and reporting accurate disaster mortality data are critical to informing disaster response and recovery efforts. The National Association of Medical Examiners convened an ad hoc committee to provide recommendations for the documentation and certification of disaster-related deaths. This article provides definitions for disasters and direct, indirect, and partially attributable disaster-related deaths; discusses jurisdiction for disaster-related deaths; offers recommendations for medical examiners/coroners (ME/Cs) for indicating the involvement of the disaster on the death certificate; discusses the role of the ME/C and non-ME/C in documenting and certifying disaster-related deaths; identifies existing systems for helping to identify the role of disaster on the death certificate; and describes disaster-related deaths that may require amendments of death certificates.

COVID-19: Postmortem Diagnostic and Biosafety Considerations.

As a result of the 2019 novel human coronavirus (COVID-19) global spread, medical examiner/coroner offices will inevitably encounter increased numbers of COVID-19-infected decedents at autopsy. While in some cases a history of fever and/or respiratory distress (eg, cough or shortness of breath) may suggest the diagnosis, epidemiologic studies indicate that the majority of individuals infected with COVID-19 develop mild to no symptoms. Those dying with-but not of-COVID-19 may still be infectious, however.

Selecting forensic pathology as a career: a survey of the past with an eye on the future.

Background: Each year there are about 30 to 40 physicians who train and become board-certified in the specialty area of forensic pathology, compared with hundreds or thousands in other disciplines. There are not enough board-certified forensic pathologists to cover national need. The National Association of Medical Examiners' (NAME) Forensic Pathology Training Committee conducted a survey of its members to determine which factors influenced them to select forensic pathology as a career, and to offer suggestions about possible recruitment methods in the future.