DNA Identification in Mass Fatality Incidents
Administrative and Technical Reviews
Once a potential match is made between a remains profile and the profile from a personal item or a family member, a technical and administrative review of the case folder is conducted.
The administrative review helps ensure that the personal reference, kinship, and remains samples have been identified and labeled correctly. For example, stress may cause family members to provide inaccurate information regarding reference samples. Therefore, it is important to check key data such as birth dates; for example, a son should not have a birth date before that of his father. Personal effects submitted to the laboratory can be verified by comparing the DNA profile to DNA profiles obtained from the victim’s relatives. It may not be unusual, for example, to discover that a male victim’s razor actually contains the DNA profile of his wife, who forgot that she used the razor the morning of the disaster.
The administrative review helps ensure that each victim is registered in only one “case” folder. Partitioning reference samples across multiple “cases” for a single victim slows the ability of the laboratory to make identifications via kinship analysis.
The technical review should verify all data, interpretations, and calculations. If multiple testing systems were used, a comparison of the results should be made, and any inconsistencies—including the possibility of contamination—should be resolved.
The KADAP prepared three sample forms that may assist laboratory directors in preparing to respond to a mass fatality incident. Appendix B is a Personal Items Submission Form, appendix C is a Family and/or Donor Reference Collection Form, and appendix D is a Family Tree Form.
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