Rolfe
Adult human female
Surreal juxtaposition on BBC TV this evening. The start of the new Horizon season, scheduled and trailed months ahead, was a programme about the ongoing identification of decomposed bodies recovered from the Boxing Day tsunami. The programme opened with an interview with an eminent forensic pathologist, who gave a graphic description of the stages of decomposition of a corpse, and how this progressively destroys identification information. The dire effects of heat were explained, together with the absolute importance of getting the bodies into cold storage as early as possible.
The situation in Thailand was reported on, with lots of film of bodies being collected in the very early days, and best efforts made in very difficult conditions to preserve them, including the use of dry ice because there was no power and no proper refrigeration facilities.
This was sandwiched between news reports of bodies being left to rot, half-submerged in tepid water, on the baking streets of New Orleans. One news crew has visited the same body every day for six days, and interviewed army and police and other officials travelling past, all of whom have said it's not their job, and anyway they've no idea how long any body has been lying anywhere. Just for kicks this evening they also showed a paramedic team who wanted to collect bodies but were taking souvenir photographs instead because nobody would give them any instructions to do anything at all. When one official was pressed on the matter he said, well, they're dead, what does it matter? They can't get any deader. We have to think about the living.
One thing which came out very strongly in the film about the tsunami aftermath was the extreme importance attached by the survivors to the prompt and dignified collection and identification of their dead relatives, and the enormous relief it was for them to be able to hold a funeral (with the right body) and achieve closure. And for sure, the bodies can get a great deal deader. The forensic pathologist was extremely graphic about how.
Is the USA really so short of manpower that it still can't scrape together a body-collection crew or two? (Or provide some facilities for pets - yet again we saw people willing to evacuate, but then refusing when they were denied permission to bring pets with them, including I think threats by the "rescuers" to shoot the pets.) Does nobody agree understand that one of the ways to help the living is to deal promptly and respectfully with their dead friends and relatives?
The technology to identify 10-years-buried skeletons, developed by teams of molecular biologists working in Bosnia, has now proved invaluable in identifying hundreds of tsunami victims who weren't found quickly, or who couldn't be brought to a place even with dry ice available. But the bulk of the identifications were made in the early stages using features which decompose quite rapidly, principally fingerprints. Dental records are useful too, but for that you have to have a dental record, and many affluent children and non-affluent adults have had little or no dental work done.
I agree that after the tsunami there were fewer rescues of living victims to attend to, but on the other hand these were third-world countries and there was still a huge amount to do one way or another. But at least the best effort was made to treat the dead respectfully from the beginning, and to do what was possible to preserve the bodies to facilitate identification.
Why is this not being attended to in New Orleans, even now, 10 days after the disaster? I wonder what the forensic pathologist, who was packing her suitcase within hours of seeing the TV reports of the tsunami, thinks about this situation?
Rolfe.
The situation in Thailand was reported on, with lots of film of bodies being collected in the very early days, and best efforts made in very difficult conditions to preserve them, including the use of dry ice because there was no power and no proper refrigeration facilities.
This was sandwiched between news reports of bodies being left to rot, half-submerged in tepid water, on the baking streets of New Orleans. One news crew has visited the same body every day for six days, and interviewed army and police and other officials travelling past, all of whom have said it's not their job, and anyway they've no idea how long any body has been lying anywhere. Just for kicks this evening they also showed a paramedic team who wanted to collect bodies but were taking souvenir photographs instead because nobody would give them any instructions to do anything at all. When one official was pressed on the matter he said, well, they're dead, what does it matter? They can't get any deader. We have to think about the living.
One thing which came out very strongly in the film about the tsunami aftermath was the extreme importance attached by the survivors to the prompt and dignified collection and identification of their dead relatives, and the enormous relief it was for them to be able to hold a funeral (with the right body) and achieve closure. And for sure, the bodies can get a great deal deader. The forensic pathologist was extremely graphic about how.
Is the USA really so short of manpower that it still can't scrape together a body-collection crew or two? (Or provide some facilities for pets - yet again we saw people willing to evacuate, but then refusing when they were denied permission to bring pets with them, including I think threats by the "rescuers" to shoot the pets.) Does nobody agree understand that one of the ways to help the living is to deal promptly and respectfully with their dead friends and relatives?
The technology to identify 10-years-buried skeletons, developed by teams of molecular biologists working in Bosnia, has now proved invaluable in identifying hundreds of tsunami victims who weren't found quickly, or who couldn't be brought to a place even with dry ice available. But the bulk of the identifications were made in the early stages using features which decompose quite rapidly, principally fingerprints. Dental records are useful too, but for that you have to have a dental record, and many affluent children and non-affluent adults have had little or no dental work done.
I agree that after the tsunami there were fewer rescues of living victims to attend to, but on the other hand these were third-world countries and there was still a huge amount to do one way or another. But at least the best effort was made to treat the dead respectfully from the beginning, and to do what was possible to preserve the bodies to facilitate identification.
Why is this not being attended to in New Orleans, even now, 10 days after the disaster? I wonder what the forensic pathologist, who was packing her suitcase within hours of seeing the TV reports of the tsunami, thinks about this situation?
Rolfe.
) well under normal conditions, but it is difficult to make people break out of the structure and deal with a crisis. Typically, developed countries have to make "crisis plans" and rehearse them to deal with a possible crisis. In a less structured society, individuals just look around, see what needs to be done, and do it, they don't wait for somebody to tell them.
