Fatality Management (FM)

Strategic Function: To develop a plan for the management of mass fatalities in a dignified and respectful manner.

Why: Communities need to know how to handle deaths that occur during an emergency.
There is the potential during an incident which has caused overwhelming medical
surge, that an overwhelming number of deaths may need to be managed.

Who: Local emergency managers and healthcare planners including hospitals and local mortuaries.

When: Each community will decide through ongoing assessment, plan development and exercises, the trigger or threshold for the activation of the Fatality Management plan.

Where: Fatality management is a local planning issue.  Local fatality management plans must be coordinated with State fatality management Plan. and occurs wherever there are deaths in the community and includes a predetermined community location to store bodies.

How: Fatality management will be based on an assessment of local resources.  Knowledge of existing state, tribal and local mortuary plans will impact how fatality management occurs locally during an incident. 

• Most New Mexico hospitals are not prepared to store bodies, and some do not currently have any mortuary facilities and are not equipped with supplies, such as body bags.
  
• Under the use of the Incident Command System (ICS) in New Mexico, it is assumed that “All Response Is Local.”
  
• Should OMI resources become overwhelmed in an incident involving mass fatalities, OMI would request additional support (i.e. FEMA Disaster Mortality [DMORT] teams and NMDOH NM serves volunteer registry) through the Incident Unified Command.

• Who currently has a fatality management plan?  A hospital?  Local mortuary?
• How does the State of New Mexico State of New Mexico All-Hazard Emergency Operations Plan in Annex 5, “Public Health, Medical, and Mortuary” impact your local plan?
• What are the available community resources to address fatality management?
• What are the storage and transportation options in the community?*
  

 

 

A sample tool to identify Storage and Transportation for Fatality Management: 

 

 

FACILITY	STORAGE Refrigerated Pan Flu Fatalities	STORAGE Non-Refrigerated Pan Flu Fatalities/Max Days	TRANSPORT VEHICLES (Type/Size)	COMMENTS

 

Summary
Fatalities occurring during any incident, including those requiring implementation of NM MEMS, will be addressed through the application of existing state, tribal, and local mortuary plans.

Religious/Spiritual Liaison Role
Description of role of local clergy, ministers and spiritual leaders.

Fatality Protocols Issued by OMI
Description of relationship between local activities and the OMI Fatality Protocols.
University of Minnesota: Center for Infectious Disease & Policy - Pandemic Influenza Mortuary Planning Guidelines (WI)

Location of Temporary Morgue or Body Storage
Process and considerations to determine where a temporary morgue will be established.
University of Minnesota: Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy - Virginia Mass Fatalities Management

Office of Medical Investigator Protocols
Process for who and how bodies are handled - Coordination with State Police - Coordinating body recovery and preservation of remains - Attention to religious and cultural needs.
University of Minnesota: Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy - Virginia Mass Fatalities Management

Hospital Fatality Plans
Coordinate with local jurisdiction, local funeral service providers, and local field deputy investigators; align with state mass fatality plan.
Birmingham Regional Emergency Medical Services Mass Casualty Incident Plan

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