By Lagi Keresoma<\/p>\n
APIA, SAMOA – 14 APRIL 2022: <\/strong>The Coroner, District Court Judge Alalatoa Rosella Viane Papalii has issued a Directive to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Police as a guide to assist them with identifying COVID-19 related deaths that are reported to the Coroner.<\/p>\n The directive was issued on the approval of His Honour the Chief Justice, Satiu Simativa Perese in light of the rapid spread of COVID-19 cases in Samoa and two reported deaths within a week.<\/p>\n Recently, the police and a doctor had different views\u00a0on the death of a four months old boy released by Health medical personnel on consent of the parents. But the body was returned to the morgue by police and a post mortem recommended to the Coroner.<\/p>\n According to the Head of the Paediatric Ward, Papalii Dr. Tito Kamu, there was no need for a post mortem because the cause of death was known.<\/p>\n Although the Coroner released the body for burial, she did ask for a full medical report on whether the boy\u2019s death was COVID-19 related.<\/p>\n In the Coroner\u2019s Directive issued 5 April 2022, it highlighted the deaths that warrant reporting to the Coroner under the Coroners Act 2007.<\/p>\n Definition of death & reported cases under the\u00a0Coroners Act 2017<\/strong> Alalatoa referred other Commonwealth countries such as New Zealand and Australia suspected deaths from a pandemic such as COVID-19 qualify as a natural cause of death and this is because the cause of death is known and doctors can issue a medical certificate if,<\/p>\n The same approach is adopted by the Coroners Court of Samoa as in other jurisdictions.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the COVID -19 related cases, if the cause of death is clear, then it is not a reportable death to the Coroner,\u201d said Alalatoa.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is to be noted that where the cause of death is unclear or where there are other relevant contributing factors for the death, or where a doctor does not sign\u00a0the medical certificate of Cause of Death for whatever reason, the death must be reported to the Coroner,\u201d she clarified.<\/p>\n She also said that a COVID-19 death is mandatory or compulsory and is reportable to the Coroner if,<\/p>\n The Directive also reminds doctors of their obligations under section 48 (2) of the Deaths, Births & Marriages Registration Act 20002 when reporting the death.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Ministry of Health, all doctors and the Ministry of Police are encouraged to continue\u00a0to work in good faith\u00a0to achieve the intents and purpose of this Directive bearing in mind the governing legislation of their respective professions,\u201d said Alalatoa.<\/p>\n The Directive will be reviewed periodically based on the circumstances that arise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Lagi Keresoma APIA, SAMOA – 14 APRIL 2022: The Coroner, District Court Judge Alalatoa Rosella Viane Papalii has issued a Directive to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Police as a guide to assist them with identifying COVID-19 related deaths that are reported to the Coroner. The directive was issued on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[182,183,177],"tags":[776,777,59],"class_list":["post-10851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-court","category-health","category-latest","tag-coroner","tag-directive-on-covid-related-deaths","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nAccording to the definition of the word \u201cdeath\u201d reportable to the Coroner in section 2 of the Coroners Act\u00a0 2017, it means a death that is:<\/p>\n\n
Unknown cause of death,<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
Involves suicide,<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
Is unnatural,<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
No medical certificate by a doctor to certify the cause of death,<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
Occurs while the person was affected by anaesthetic or undergoing medical, surgical, dental or similar operation or procedures,<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
Person in official custody or detained under police custody in prison or mental institution or any institution described by law for a person to be detained. It applies if the death occurred within the facility of the institution,<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
Two or more deaths arising from the same incident or series of incidents including natural disaster such a tsunami,<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
Person presumed dead for missing at least 7 days,<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
Person presumed dead for lost at seas for 2 years,<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
Occurs outside Samoa on a Samoan craft and<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
Occurs outside Samoa\u00a0of a citizen who has been brought back to Samoa without\u00a0coronial investigation or inquest at the place of death.<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n
COVID-19\u00a0is regarded a naturally\u00a0occurring disease and therefore capable of being a natural cause of death,<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
A cause of death or contributory cause is not a reason on its own to refer death to the Coroner.<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n
the death is in police custody, state penal institution or mental institution regardless\u00a0 whether the death occurred within the facility or institution\u00a0 premise,<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
the death is in care of any organization, company or charitable trusts including Goshen Trust, Samoa Victim Support Group and others,<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
the person died as a result of the care they received or did not receive from a medical facility (eg) a missed diagnosis of failure to treat COVID -19,<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
The death is the result of the failure to provide health care because of inadequate resourcing in the event\u00a0of an overwhelming demand for critical care services.<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n