Frontline Workers in the Backrooms of COVID-19.

Abstract

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. 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. 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. 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.