AM/PM Data
Definition
Ante-mortem data (records from life: dental charts, medical records, DNA reference samples) and post-mortem data (findings from the body after death). Identification depends on matching one against the other.
- AM data source
- Records from before death
- PM data source
- Findings from the recovered body
- AM examples
- Dental charts, medical records, DNA references
- Use
- Reconciliation matching in DVI
Common questions
Why is AM data often harder to obtain than PM data?+
PM data is generated directly by the DVI team under controlled conditions, but AM data depends on family members, dentists, physicians, and other third parties producing records that may be incomplete, inconsistent in format, or simply unavailable for a given victim.
What happens when no useful AM record exists for a victim?+
Identification then relies on comparative methods that need less specific antemortem input, such as DNA kinship testing against surviving relatives, since a direct one-to-one AM/PM match cannot be made without a documented antemortem baseline.
Related terms
- Body Part Number (BPN)
- A unique alphanumeric identifier assigned to every human-tissue fragment at the point of discovery, cross-referenced to its spatial coordinates and the personal...
- DVI (Disaster Victim Identification)
- The systematic multi-agency process for identifying victims of mass-casualty events, governed by the INTERPOL DVI Guide 2018 revision. Organises work into five...
- Interpol Yellow Notice
- An international alert issued to help identify unknown bodies; complemented by the DVI PM (post-mortem) form, which captures all physical, dental, and...
- Scene Zoning
- The formal division of a disaster scene into sectors (hot zone, warm zone, cold zone) or operational grids, allocating search, recovery, and...
- Triage Recovery
- Recovery that prioritises the most complete or identifiable remains first, typically under time or resource pressure. Contrasted with systematic grid recovery, which...