Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy Clare Daly on the presentation of this important Bill, which my party will be strongly supporting. The Bill seeks to ensure maternal deaths result in automatic inquests. As it stands, maternal deaths are treated as deaths which must, as a rule or practice, be reported to the coroner. However, inquests are not automatically granted in these cases. Between 2007 and 2013, eight inquests were held following maternal deaths. All eight cases resulted in rulings of medical misadventure. The Minister of State mentioned the European Convention on Human Rights, Article 2 of which clearly outlines the responsibilities of every member state in terms of its duty to investigate deaths that take place in suspicious circumstances, or in circumstances that leave them open to question. Too many families in this State have been left facing the wall of bureaucracy on their own without the required supports. I want to say clearly today that the State is profoundly failing in its responsibilities under the European Convention on Human Rights and the Government knows it.

As the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions, I have been working in co-operation with my colleague, Deputy Stanton, who is the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. When both committees jointly held a day of hearings on this matter earlier this year, a range of experts made presentations and outlined the failure of this State to live up to its responsibilities. The transcripts of those hearings have been sent to the relevant Ministers, but what needs to be done is not being done.

We have been faced with Bill after Bill in recent weeks, some of which have gone through all Stages in one day. When the Government wants, it can get Bills through the Office of the Attorney General and through all Stages. Therefore, there is no excuse for not having completed and made the necessary changes to the Coroners Bill 2007 by now. There is an opportunity to deal with this now. I fully support Deputy Daly's Bill going to Committee Stage. Apparently, we will have a couple of weeks of this Dáil after Christmas. We need to reconvene and the Government needs to take that opportunity to get this issue over the line before a new Government comes into power. It is a profound failure that this issue has not been addressed.

As such inquests are not automatic, families who should be spending their energy dealing with horrific loss must instead fight for the true facts of what led to the death of their loved ones. This situation is neither rational nor just. Deputy Daly has highlighted the fact that legislation dealing with the deaths of women who give birth in hospitals is urgently needed. Sinn Féin concurs with that view. The only way in which one can improve the lives of citizens in this State is not to congratulate ourselves on things that go right, but to examine openly and without fear or obfuscation the circumstances that lead to wrong results and to ensure the tragedies referred to by Deputy Daly are not repeated.

The culture of defend and deny that is rampant throughout this State in response to a fear of litigation not only costs the State millions as a result of medical negligence cases but also prevents safer and better quality of care for patients. The Irish Medical Council states:

Patients and their families are entitled to honest, open and prompt communication with them about adverse events that may have caused them harm. Therefore you should;

- Acknowledge that the event happened;

- Explain how it happened;

- Apologise if appropriate;

-Give assurances as to how lessons have been learned to minimise the chance of this event happening again in the future.

Therefore, when patients or their families are treated with resistance and concealment of facts pertaining to a death or injury, is it any wonder they seek the path of litigation? The position taken makes little sense. In cases where information is not forthcoming, it is usually that information that is most useful in preventing the same tragic events occurring in the future. As Dr. Jo Murphy-Lawless of Trinity College has pointed out:

A maternal death casts a deep chill over the entirety of a maternity unit. Given the legal neutrality of a coroner's inquest in determining how a woman died, staff too would benefit from what we can learn through the inquest process.

I want now to highlight a related issue. Some time ago I published a Bill, to be known as "Jake’s Amendment", to amend the Coroners Act 1962 to allow for a coroner to return a verdict of iatrogenic suicide. That Bill followed from the death in March 2013 of 14 year old Jake McGill Lynch who, shortly after being prescribed the antidepressant Prozac, ended his own life using a firearm. Jake, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, was given the antidepressant drug, despite research stating that the drug has no benefit for children with Asperger’s and despite the emerging evidence of harm. In the midst of their grief, Jake’s parents had come to understand that their personal tragedy was one that has been shared by thousands of families whose loved ones have died as a result of antidepressant induced suicide.

Jake’s parents wanted the Coroners Act to be amended in order that a coroner could return a verdict of iatrogenic - medically induced - suicide where such is the case. This is an issue that must be highlighted. A verdict of suicide returned in accordance with the provisions of the Act of 1962 must be differentiated from a verdict of iatrogenic suicide. Iatrogenic suicide is the ending of one’s own life where the effect of medical treatment undertaken by the deceased, including any prescribed medication, is the primary cause of such an action.

My Bill is in the system, but as the system here is a lottery, it is the luck of the draw whether it will ever make it into the House. This is frustrating, as I have repeatedly called for it to be taken. Therefore, when the Government is considering the Coroners Bill 2007 and addressing the issues raised by Deputy Daly today, I urge it to look also at the issue of iatrogenic suicide. In the case I mentioned, the coroner made a finding that gave some comfort to the family. One hopes lessons will be learned from that. I urge the Minister of State and his officials to take note of that when they consider these issues.

The Coroners Act of 1962 is no longer fit for purpose and should have been repealed and replaced with an amended version of the Coroners Bill 2007 as a matter of priority. In the amended version of the 2007 Bill, there should have been a comprehensive list of verdicts open for a coroner or a jury, as the case may be, to return. This list should have contained provision for verdicts such as that mentioned by Deputy Daly or me today.

Sinn Féin supports and commends Deputy Daly’s legislative proposal. It makes sense for families suffering tragic loss, in the context of preventing the recurrence of such tragedies, and of reducing traumatic and financially prohibitive legal actions.

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