Grieving limbo - five years of waiting and still no answers

Sunday, 7 April 2019

Five years on from the suspected suicide of Shaun Gray, his family are still waiting for a coroner's inquest.

Five years of stalled grieving, and still no answers.

Shaun Gray died of a suspected suicide on April 16, 2014, while in the care of Palmerston North Hospital's mental health ward. Five years on, his family still has no date for the coroner's inquest into his death.

'Everything goes into limbo,' Shaun's father Ian Gray said. 'You don't even address the issue that they are gone, because you are still waiting. It's day in, day out – it's always there in the back of your mind.'

Two years should be the absolute maximum families should have to wait for a hearing into their loved one's death, Gray said.

**READ MORE:

Coroner Brant Shortland has said more coroners are needed to deal with the case backlog.

* Grieving Kiwi families face torturous wait for answers

* No charges over Palmerston North Hospital death of Shaun Gray

* A day inside the office of coroner Brandt Shortland

* Massive fall in coroner's inquests sparks fears of cover-ups**

Stuff revealed in October 2018 that more than 40 per cent of open coroner's cases were older than 12 months – the worst rate in six years. That's 723 families in grieving limbo, waiting more than a year for answers about why their loved one died.

It's not yet clear if the investigations into the 50 Christchurch mosque attack victims will further extend delays for other coroners' cases.

The average time to close coronial cases was 345 days but that masked long inquest waits, as more than 90 per cent of cases are decided without a hearing.

Coroner Brandt Shortland said last week that all coroners had cases that were two or three years old and more coroners and case managers were needed to clear the backlog.

'If they could reduce the caseload to 120-150 per coroner the turn around would be a lot quicker. It isn't rocket science. Certainly another three coroners would help,' he told Stuff.

The Coroners Act allows for up to 20 full-time coroners. Only 17 are presently employed, plus a temporary replacement for Coroner Christopher Devonport, who died in January.

In October, Justice Minister Andrew Little said the delay statistics were 'concerning' and two to three years was 'a long time' for families to wait for answers. He pledged to investigate hiring extra coroners to clear the backlog.

Little this week reiterated that lengthy delays were unacceptable and distressing for families, but stressed the importance of coroners taking care to ensure that their findings were accurate. He failed to answer the critical question of whether or not the government would appoint more coroners. The Coroners Court received $7 million in extra funding in the 2018 Budget to improve support services.

Gray said the coronial process lacked transparency and seemed designed to protect existing systems. While Coroner's inquests can be delayed by other investigations, the Grays chose not to complain to the Health and Disability Commissioner, as they knew that would increase the inquest waiting time. The case was also transferred from Coroner Carla na Nagara, who was overloaded, to Coroner Gordon Matenga, in theory, to speed up the process.

'It's something that never goes away, until you get to that point of being able to sit down and state what you want to ask,' Gray said. 'People say 'Why can't you put it to rest and let it go?' But you can't, not when you know there were faults there.'

While more coroners could help, Gray thought having an independent medical specialist working alongside the coroner – as was the practice in Australia – would speed the process.

Chief Coroner Deborah Marshall told Stuff it was too early to tell whether investigations into the 50 Christchurch terror attack victims would further delay other coroner's cases.