By Patrick E Walsh
Excess Deaths: Coroners at the Coalface
Is there a ‘canary in the Covid 19 vax mine’ where sudden and unexpected deaths are the daily business?
CORONERS DUTIES:
In Ireland, a coroner is an independent public official who is legally responsible for investigating sudden, violent or unexplained deaths to enable a death to be registered.
The coroner’s first concern is to form an opinion as to if the death is due to natural or unnatural causes.
In order to do this, the coroner may call for a post-mortem examination.
If a post mortem indicates the death was from natural causes then no inquest is required and a death certificate can be issued by the coroner and the death registered.
If it’s discovered that the death is due to unnatural causes then an inquest may be held after which the death can be registered.
It’s not the coroner’s job to attribute civil or criminal liability but to establish the facts to the best of his ability as to the ‘who, where, when and how’ of an unexplained death.
In 2020, Coroners were lumbered with collecting data on ‘Covid 19 mortality’. All deaths connected, however loosely with Covid 19, have to be reported to a coroner.
The following publication from gov.ie explains the situation as regards deaths ‘from’, ‘with’ or attributable to Covid 19.
Basically, Covid 19 is a natural cause of death which is accepted by the Coroner without question unless they believe that there may be unnatural causes involved, in which case he can order a post mortem and inquest if necessary.
All coroners make annual returns detailing the cases closed during a year under the following headings: (a) cases without post mortem required, (b) cases with post mortem but no inquest required ( c ) cases requiring a post mortem and an inquest.
The important point to take from the above is that Coroners report annually on the processing of cases of sudden and unexpected deaths in Ireland and that ‘Covid 19 deaths’, while increasing their workload have not changed the basic function of their job.
CORONERS ANNUAL RETURNS 2018 TO 2022:
These returns are available at this link https://www.gov.ie/en/collection/4dc84-coroners-annual-returns-2018-2020/
I have summarised these reports under each heading, split between Dublin which accounts for 30% of cases and the ‘Rest of Ireland’.
DUBLIN:
In 2020 the number of coroners in Dublin was doubled from 2 to 4 due to the pandemic.
This makes it difficult to compare pre and post 2020 figures but I will show them here regardless for full disclosure.
In Dublin, the amount of sudden and unexplained deaths closed requiring a post mortem in 2019 was down 2% on 2018.
The figures for 2020, 2021 and 2022 are rising at a rate that is off the scale and remember ‘Covid deaths’ do NOT require a post mortem.
Post mortems requested by coroners in Dublin for sudden and unexplained deaths in 2022 are 57% higher than in 2019.
2021 was 51% higher than 2019.
No, I don’t know why 2020 is 34% higher than 2019 but a combination of 2 extra coroners and the lunacy of the pandemic year will all contribute.
Regardless, the number of sudden deaths requiring a post mortem has gone through the roof over the last few years.
In 2020, the number of coroners in Dublin was doubled to 4 and it’s possible that this has enabled more cases to be processed quicker.
Surely post mortems are requested and completed when required, regardless of the number of coroners employed and numerous bodies aren’t stored for months on end awaiting post mortem and release for burial?
If any funeral director or family member of deceased can expand on this question I would be grateful to hear from you.
Dublin inquests closed in 2022 are up 15% but these will possibly have been carried over from previous years and the introduction of 2 new coroners will have expedited these cases.
Year of death is not available in these cases.
REST OF IRELAND:
The following are the main points:
Closed cases requiring a post mortem (but not an inquest) in the ‘Rest of Ireland’ have increased as follows over last 3 years:
2022 up 721 (28%) on 2020
2022 up 412 (14%) on 2021
2021 up 309 (12%) on 2020
2020 only saw an increase in line with the previous year (8%)
The important point here is, that as far as I know, there weren’t any extra coroners appointed in any other district and that the only variable when comparing periods is the Covid 19 reporting rules.
These deaths should have nothing to do with Covid 19, so we are entitled to ask the question, what is leading to a major increase outside Dublin in the amount of sudden and unexplained deaths that coroners feel require a post mortem?
Rest of Ireland inquests closed in 2022 are up 16% but again these will possibly have been carried over from previous years and year of death is not available in these cases.
In the last week, this article in breaking news.ie caught my attention, see link below:
The main points of concern voiced by Dublin coroners in a letter to the Dept. of Justice on 7th June 2023 are:
- there is a growing backlog of inquests due to ‘an unmanageable workload’
- they are not able to quantify the extent of the backlog
- staff shortages due to high staff turnover since late 2022 are contributing to delays with inquests
- no increase in the number of inquests held can be expected in the medium term
The article makes no mention of an increased workload only saying that they can’t manage things with current staff levels, as if that was the only difficulty.
My analysis of the Dublin coroner returns above, indicates that there is an increased workload in all duties and this fact combined with staff shortages means we have a situation where the backlog is so big for sudden and unexplained deaths that they can’t even quantify it.
The Dublin coroners website states that as of August 2022, an inquest ‘can take up to 24 months’. With the current crisis situation as per the June 2023 letter of complaint, where they say the backlog can’t be quantified, I think it’s safe to assume that an inquest can take a lot longer to happen now.
The Dublin coroners expressed ‘grave concern’ at the inquest backlog pointing out that ‘inquests dating back to 2019 remain to be heard’.
We are also informed that ‘a business analyst review of the Dublin Coroners Office did not appear to include quantifying and tackling the backlog of inquests’.
An unquantifiable backlog of inquests by definition means an unquantifiable number of sudden and unexplained deaths requiring investigation.
It’s also pointed out in the breaking news.ie article that coroners in Laois, Limerick and Cork have experienced difficulty in finding pathologists leading to a delay in carrying out post-mortems and inquests and consequently to registering deaths.
The coroner of Cork city district, the second busiest district after Dublin, has also complained that staff shortages were ‘severely hampering’ his ability to carry out his statutory duties.
It seems the whole sudden and unexplained death scene (coroners statutory duties) is so out of control that the government has been forced to act in the last few days.
The Justice Minister has announced:
- appointment of additional coroners in Dublin
- additional ‘temporary’ coroners across the state as required
- a public consultation on the coroners service via gov.ie
The above facts and figures are many and detailed but on reading this Substack, ask yourself the question :
On balance, is there evidence provided by Coroners returns and complaints, of a major ongoing increase in deaths since 2021 which by definition are sudden and unexplained ?
The answer has to be yes.
If, as ‘Official Ireland’ is trying to convince us, the extra mortality over the last 34 months is due to an aging population, then I think it’s fair to say we shouldn’t be seeing any major shift in the workload of coroners as regards post mortems and inquests.
Any significant increase in the numbers of such deaths that coroners are reporting on and investigating is noteworthy in the current era of excess deaths.
Sudden and unexplained death is their daily currency and by definition rarely involves the elderly.
Once again we are back to the Covid 19 vax roll out in 2021 and are entitled to ask the question does correlation equal causation in this case?
How has Ireland, a once functioning democratic state in Western Europe, been allowed to descend to the level of a tin pot dictatorship in sub Saharan Africa, where unexplained deaths are out of control and the government has to be shamed into action ?
Minister McEntee to the rescue…
God help us.
Please feel free to share this article with public representatives and anyone you wish especially someone you consider just might be ready to ‘wake up’.
It’s fine to share this info among ‘ourselves’ but my aim is to alert more people to what is going on.
Send it to one person you know went along with the Scamdemic but just might be copping on and risk ‘the ridicule’ of their reaction.
This can be your contribution to the cause.
You might be surprised as a lot of people who fell for it just want someone to ask them about it so they can offload.
Go for it.
