Pairs
Ink Pad
Fingerprint Sheet
When a person is being treated in a hospital, every effort is made to try to identify the person. However, there are times when a person who is in need of care does not have identification on them or is conscious to inform the medical staff of who they are. In the worst case, they never regain consciousness and no one comes who can identify them. If this occurs, it is up to the Medical Examiner (M.E.) to determine their identity. A Medical Examiner (M.E.) must determine or verify the identity of the deceased. They will perform an autopsy, which includes examination of the body, its internal organs, and testing on body fluids. They will also take fingerprints of the person.
If a family relative is unable to identify a person, what else can identify a person? DNA and fingerprints can, but DNA is expensive and takes a long time to get results. Fingerprints are unique. The individual lines, or ridges, of a fingerprint are the unique part of your print. Where these lines split, end, circle or do anything else identifies you as you! These tiny lines of detail are called "minutiae (min-oo-sha)." The fingerprints taken by the M.E. will be run through a computerized system called IAFIS (Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System) in the hopes of getting an identification of the deceased.
Today, you will practice getting fingerprints from another person, your lab partner. You will also compare two of your prints to find where the minutiae are different, in at least 10 places.
Procedure:
Part 1: Printing the fingers
Part 2: Marking the Minutiae