A Tasmanian coroner has warned that “unfounded” applications to reopen death investigations are delaying justice for other families, after dismissing a widow’s decade-old challenge over her husband’s death certificate.
Chief Coroner Olivia McTaggart rejected the application on Wednesday, describing it as “wholly unmeritorious”.
The man died at the Launceston General Hospital on October 18, 2014, from stage four lung cancer that had spread to other parts of his body.
His death was recorded as being from natural causes and a medical certificate was issued two days later.
His wife questioned whether he had metastatic lung cancer and whether morphine contributed to his death.
A coroner investigated the concerns at the time, with a forensic pathologist confirming the diagnosis and finding the pain relief was not excessive.
In May this year, more than a decade after her husband’s death, the widow applied to reopen the case under the Coroners Act.
She claimed the doctor who signed the death certificate was not properly registered to practise in Australia.
The widow said national records contained no doctor under the name he used, with only a similar name appearing, raising the possibility of identity fraud.
But McTaggart found the names belonged to the same doctor, who routinely used a different first name.
A LinkedIn profile and an Asian hospital website linked the two names and showed he worked at the Launceston hospital at the time.
McTaggart said the applicant had provided no evidence to “even raise a suspicion” that the doctor was unregistered.
“The time taken to deal with applications of this nature increases the delays in progressing current investigations and the distress to those senior next of kin and families who are waiting for finalisation of the investigation into the deaths of their loved ones,” McTaggart wrote.
