Commentary on the Multi-Agency Approach to the Investigation of SUDI

To use the diagnosis SIDS, investigation of the death scene is a prerequisite. In some countries death scene investigation is performed by ordinary police, in some states in the US it is performed by the medical examiner, but in many countries no death scene investigation is done at all. There is general agreement in the SIDS community that the death scene should be investigated by a specialist team including medical and forensic experts. This requirement has been a challenge for the legislators and legal experts who claim that entering homes without consent is violation of human rights. This challenge has been overcome in the UK where after a new law was passed on April 1, 2008, professor PJ Fleming and his co-workers successfully have developed a multi-agency approach which may be a model for other countries.