Impact of coronial investigations on manner and cause of death determinations in Australia, 2000-2007.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the changes in the understanding of the manner and cause of death occurring during the course of coronial investigations.

DESIGN

Retrospective analysis of deaths reported to coroners in Australia between 1 July 2000 and 31 December 2007, using the National Coroners Information System.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

(i) Manner of death (natural, external, unknown); (ii) intent classification (eg, unintentional injury, suicide, assault) among deaths with external causes; and, (iii) changes in the manner of death and intent classification between the presumption made at case notification and the coroner's final determination.

RESULTS

The coronial investigation changed the presumption about manner of death or intent classification in 5.2% (6222/120 452) of cases in which a presumption was made. Among deaths with a change in attribution from natural causes to external causes, unintentional falls (442/1891) and pharmaceutical poisoning (427/1891) each accounted for 23%. Among deaths with attribution changing from external causes to natural causes, the leading medical causes of death were cardiovascular compromise (551/842; 65%) and infection (124/842; 15%). Of deaths understood correctly at notification to be due to external causes, but the wrong external cause, 34% (206/600) were ultimately judged to be unintentional injuries, and 22% (133/600) were judged to be suicides.

CONCLUSIONS

Coronial investigations transform basic understanding of cause of death in only a small minority of cases. However, the benefits to families and society of accurate cause-of-death determinations in these difficult cases may be considerable.