Missing Persons - Office of the State Pathologist

The Office of the State Pathologist is a non-statutory agency, which provides independent expert advice on matters relating to forensic pathology and performs post mortem examinations for criminal, suspicious or unusual deaths. In addition, forensic pathologists deal with cases of skeletonised and/or concealed remains, which may require the additional expertise of a forensic anthropologist or forensic archaeologist.

Forensic pathologists are qualified medical doctors who have specialised in forensic pathology. Forensic pathologists perform post mortem examinations and provide post mortem reports to the relevant coroner. They also attend inquests or court proceedings, which may arise from Garda investigations.

In missing persons’ cases, the primary aims of the Office of the State Pathologist are to help with identification and to assist families in understanding the fate of their loved one.

A PME is the medical examination of a body after death. It is also referred to as an autopsy. Forensic pathologists specialise in diagnosing disease and identifying conditions that can lead to death.

Forensic pathologists receive specialist training to perform PMEs in cases where the death is thought to have occurred as a result of criminal activity. In addition, forensic pathologists are trained in the interpretation of injuries and injury patterns.

Forensic PMEs conducted by the Office of the State Pathologist are also attended by An Garda Síochána for the purpose of evidence collection and photographic documentation of all the external and internal findings.

The role of the forensic pathologist in the identification of a person is to ensure the collection of the appropriate evidence at PME and to work closely with other experts and An Garda Síochána in establishing the identity.

The body may be identified in three key ways:

• visually
• by circumstantial evidence (for example, clothing or forms of identification found on the body)
• by scientific methods (for example, DNA analysis or fingerprint analysis). DNA is the gold standard for identification.