Coroners rule out holding inquests online during pandemic

Coroners throughout the country have had to delay the holding of inquests in a physical sense because of the Covid-19 crisis and may have to put them back for several months.

Up to 10 inquests per county unrelated to the pandemic have already had to be put back and many coroners have ruled out the holding of “virtual” (online) inquests because they feel they would not be “humane” and would deprive families of being able to interact with coroners, Gardai, pathologists and witnesses and would not get proper closure following the death of a relative.

The holding of inquests, either in local hospitals or courthouses, is being kept under review and further decisions will not be made pending the Government’s review of the lockdown on 5^th May next.

Interaction

Coroners said yesterday that there was a very high degree of communication and interaction between themselves and the Government and State agencies since the start of the crisis. They were also high in their praise of frontline staff in nursing homes and care institutions.

Nathaniel Lacy, Coroner for Co Meath, said that there was a backlog in the county of four to five inquests for both March and April but he felt that it was better to delay these inquests rather than try to hold them by using the internet. In the majority of cases, families of deceased persons preferred to interact with the coroner, Gardai, witnesses and pathologists in order to get all the answers as to how their relative died. It would come as an enormous comfort to them as they sought those answers and would bring some sort of closure for them, he said.

He would wait to see what would happen on 5^th May when the lockdown was about to be reviewed by the Government and he had some hope that he might be able to resume holding inquests by the end of May if that proved possible.

Documentation

Mr Lacy said that it might be possible to hold “paper” inquests in which documentation would be presented by way of affidavit and then a verdict reached but he was “very reluctant” to go down that route. 

“Families would not have the same opportunity to raise questions and have their queries answered in that setting. My preference is for the delaying of inquests rather than have ‘paper’ or ‘virtual’ inquests. Virtual inquests would be impersonal and would not be in the best interests of families”.

In a normal year, between 40 and 50 inquests would be held each year but Mr Lacy said he had no details yet of the impact of Covid-19 on deaths in the county. 

He said that under the Coroners Act 1962-2019, coroners had to be informed of notifiable infectious diseases. When this type of death was notified to him, he would normally make enquiries among Gardai and medical practitioners as to the cause of death and in some cases, it might not be necessary to direct that a post-mortem be held.