Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 May 2004
283 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children the steps he will take to ensure the timely issue of death certificates following post mortem examination as delays at the State laboratory are causing distress and often financial difficulties for families who, in many cases, must wait more than a year for a certificate. [13522/04]
View answerThe administration of the registration system is statutorily a matter for an tArd-Chláraitheoir or Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and for registrars who operate under his general direction.
I presume the Deputy is referring to deaths that were referred to a coroner. The Registrar General has informed me that he must await a coroner's decision on the cause of death before it can be registered. Following the referral of a case of sudden death a coroner may refer a sample or samples from the autopsy to the State Laboratory for detailed analysis to assist in determining the cause of death. He must wait for the results before issuing his decision.
The State Laboratory operates under the aegis of the Department of Finance. It knows how important its service is to the coroners and the impact it inevitably has on relatives of people whose deaths are the subject of inquests at a time of great distress. The laboratory constantly monitors its service by reviewing available resources, the possibilities for outsourcing and the complexity of analyses. There is a general increase in the complexity of the analyses required by coroners, resulting in approximately three analyses per sample received. Reports are made on the vast majority of samples within six months of receipt in the State Laboratory.
Additional resources were allocated to the State Laboratory's toxicology section resulting in a substantial increase in the number of analyses completed. A backlog of cases still exists due to a 50% increase in the past two years in the number of cases referred and a general increase in the complexity of the analyses required.
At present a range of measures are being taken to reduce the turnaround time of samples sent to the laboratory and processed by its toxicology section. The laboratory will give additional priority to the coroners' cases. Its management is also reviewing the procedures and processes in the toxicology area with a view to automating as much as possible.
The possibilities of reducing the complexity of testing were discussed between the State Laboratory and the coroners and their representatives. Such a measure would have an immediate impact on turnaround times. It was not considered possible to reduce the complexity of tests performed by the laboratory due to the constant demand by families for comprehensive analysis, the increasing complexity of the cocktail of drugs potentially taken by victims that requires sequential analyses and coroners' requirement for quality analytical data that will withstand scrutiny in court.
