We’ve had to postpone the long-awaited Coroner Hui that was set to be held today in Oturu marae because of a death involving the main whanau of the host marae. Deaths and resultant hui postponements go hand in hand inside an iwi. So, instead of tearing my hair out, which was my first instinct when I heard yesterday morning, I’ll use the opportunity to share more information in prep for the hui, when it’s reconvened, by sharing with you an email exchange I had with someone who is interested but doesn’t know much about the issues.
Kia ora Anahera … what are the major concerns and difficulties iwi Mäori have experienced with the current system?
Kia ora Anahera … what are the major concerns and difficulties iwi Mäori have experienced with the current system?
[The issues are], apart from general hostility to the concept of operating on our tupapaku, and the consequent disruption of their tangihanga:
1. Modesty: It doesn’t take much [for pathologists] to maintain body cover, particularly of the genitals, during post mortem.
2. Intrusiveness: Pathologists … don’t have to remove the whole top of the scalp to get at the brain unless it is absolutely necessary. ... Yet in Whangarei this is still standard practice.
3. Liaison with Whanau: Too often pathologists don’t seem comfortable with the living who want to connect with the person operating on their whanaunga.
Regarding the Act, some of the issues are:
1. On the surface it looks like progress that whanau can object to post mortem. But the inability, once an objection has been made, for whanau to rescind it or for the Coroner to over-rule it, until the full time allowed in the Act has lapsed, makes it likely .. [to] cause damaging delays.
2. The Act defines autopsy as “full internal and external examination of the body” … [What will that] mean in practice?
3. … in reducing the numbers of Coroners in the country from 52 down to 15, there will now be only one Coroner in the whole of Taitokerau, instead of the current three. … Will [that person] have a good grasp and experience of local / regional sensitivities and networks? … Because it’s a political appointment, we simply don’t know.
1. Modesty: It doesn’t take much [for pathologists] to maintain body cover, particularly of the genitals, during post mortem.
2. Intrusiveness: Pathologists … don’t have to remove the whole top of the scalp to get at the brain unless it is absolutely necessary. ... Yet in Whangarei this is still standard practice.
3. Liaison with Whanau: Too often pathologists don’t seem comfortable with the living who want to connect with the person operating on their whanaunga.
Regarding the Act, some of the issues are:
1. On the surface it looks like progress that whanau can object to post mortem. But the inability, once an objection has been made, for whanau to rescind it or for the Coroner to over-rule it, until the full time allowed in the Act has lapsed, makes it likely .. [to] cause damaging delays.
2. The Act defines autopsy as “full internal and external examination of the body” … [What will that] mean in practice?
3. … in reducing the numbers of Coroners in the country from 52 down to 15, there will now be only one Coroner in the whole of Taitokerau, instead of the current three. … Will [that person] have a good grasp and experience of local / regional sensitivities and networks? … Because it’s a political appointment, we simply don’t know.
Thank you Anahera. That doesn’t sound good. I have heard ... that the chances of Mäori going to a coroner can be greatly reduced by … being seen by doctors/NGO’s more often … can I ask if you think that assertion is still valid?
The short reply is yes. The long answer is that autopsy is always mandatory when there is no medical doctor willing to sign off on cause of death. … But autopsy is also mandatory for any death which:
1. Is a matter requiring police investigation (accidents, murder, suicide, etc)
2. Takes place while a person is in custody or in care (prison, hospital, etc)
3. Takes place in suspicious circumstances (e.g. during commission of a crime)
I personally don’t believe investigation of cause of death (including autopsy) is inherently against Maori tikanga. Old whakatauki show we were constantly reviewing and learning from past experience. It’s the way in which it’s done and the attitudes of the people who have statutory roles in the process that needs review and change in some places. … Engari if we take better care of ourselves, … then we do reduce the likelihood of having an autopsy when our turn to shuffle off this mortal coil comes.
Koutou ma, the Coroner’s hui will be reconvened as soon as possible.
Hei konei. Hei kona.
1. Is a matter requiring police investigation (accidents, murder, suicide, etc)
2. Takes place while a person is in custody or in care (prison, hospital, etc)
3. Takes place in suspicious circumstances (e.g. during commission of a crime)
I personally don’t believe investigation of cause of death (including autopsy) is inherently against Maori tikanga. Old whakatauki show we were constantly reviewing and learning from past experience. It’s the way in which it’s done and the attitudes of the people who have statutory roles in the process that needs review and change in some places. … Engari if we take better care of ourselves, … then we do reduce the likelihood of having an autopsy when our turn to shuffle off this mortal coil comes.Koutou ma, the Coroner’s hui will be reconvened as soon as possible.
Hei konei. Hei kona.
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