title: Case reports and background: difficulties with identification--Sweden.
abstract: Despite the best conditions such as professional management, all possible aid and means of assistance, along with good legislation, sometimes unexpected factors occur to prevent or at the very least delay identification of the unknown deceased. The specific difficulties in identification cases that involve several countries, as well as problems arising from inconsistencies created in the Antemortem (AM) and Postmortem (PM) files, can obstruct the identification of the recovered human remains. There may be long delays with police procedures whenever a missing person or a dead body has crossed a national border. Also, lack of professional dental investigation can make comparisons difficult or sometimes impossible. Three cases from Swedish files have been used to illustrate such difficulties - there were some parts of the investigations that worked better than others as well as specific problems that arose from the mistakes and delays that occurred. Improving standards and learning from such difficulties may help to minimise future problems.
authors.affiliation: The National Board of Forensic Medicine, Forensic Odontology Division, Retzius v. 5, 171 65 Solna, Sweden. irena.dawidson@rmv.se
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dawidson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D059019:Clinical Coding / Q000145:classification; D019992:Databases as Topic; D003792:Dental Records / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003829:Denture, Partial; D004190:Disasters; D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology / Q000379:methods; D005553:Forensic Dentistry / Q000379:methods; D005568:Forms and Records Control; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D035846:Law Enforcement; D008297:Male; D010781:Photography; D016300:Radiography, Bitewing; D011861:Radiography, Dental; D012537:Scandinavian and Nordic Countries; D013405:Suicide; D013548:Sweden