Victim Identification and Family Support in Mass Casualties: The Massachusetts Model

• NCJ Number: 191289
• Journal: International Journal of Emergency Mental Health Volume: 1 Issue: 4 Dated: 1999 Pages: 237-242
• Author(s): Robert J. Wright M.P.A; Constance D. Peters MSPA; Raymond B. Flannery, Jr. Ph.D.
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 6 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Program Description (Model)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Downloaded October 18, 2001

Annotation

This document focuses on the Massachusetts Model of victim identification and family support in mass casualties.

Abstract

The Aviation Disaster Family Assistance Act of 1996 requires the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), air carriers, and the American Red Cross (ARC) to provide an integrated family assistance center to offer support to family survivors of mass casualties. A central component of family assistance center services is the timely and accurate identification of victims and their personal belongings so that the remains of loved ones and their property can be released to their families, and the families’ suffering can be mitigated. The Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) developed the Massachusetts Model within the basic initiative fielded by the Massachusetts Port Authority, the State agency that is responsible for Logan International Airport in Boston. In the event of a mass fatality incident, the OCME needs to coordinate victim identification at three sites: OCME headquarters, the onsite incident scene, and the integrated family assistance center. Onsite, the OCME would recover and prepare the remains at the forensic processing center. The identification and recovery process would be enhanced by antemortem interviews with family survivors at the family assistance center. The antemortem interview consists of an in-depth interview with the family survivors for all identifying information that will assist in the accurate identification of loved ones. Antemortem counselors are trained in the principles of psychological trauma and crisis intervention procedures as well as in the medical process of victim identification through body parts and identifying markers. The three stages family survivors may encounter in critical incidents are ambiguity, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Three issues that enhanced the development of the final model were interagency interface, technology, and crisis counselors. 1 footnote, 18 references