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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-09-15 Daily Xml
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STILLBIRTHS

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (11:02): I move:

That the Legislative Review Committee inquire into and report on the need for coronial jurisdiction for stillborn children and in particular—

(a) whether 28 weeks gestational age or any period beyond 28 weeks is the point at which stillbirths should come within coronial jurisdiction;

(b) whether some other criteria such as death by unexpected, unusual, violent or unknown causes should be applied to bring stillbirths within coronial jurisdiction; and

(c) any other related matter.

In moving this motion I am in the unusual position of not having a strong view about the actual topic itself because I am ill-informed to a large degree about the topic, but I am convinced that the parliament would be well served by an inquiry to consider the issue that has been raised with me by a number of people, and in particular Myf Maywald.

For those who are unaware of Myf Maywald's circumstances, I refer to a Sunday Mail article on 27 March 2010 where there is a report where Myf Maywald calls on a change to the law to allow coroners to rule on stillborns. Her circumstance was that, when seven months pregnant, she went into hospital with early labour, but her Polly was stillborn a few days later. At that stage the death was part of an ongoing internal investigation at the Women's and Children's Hospital, but Ms Maywald said she was distressed to learn the Coroner could not look into Polly's death because the wording of the law prevents the investigation of any death of babies in utero.

As I say, this is a highly technical topic; it is not a topic that I have any background or knowledge on at all, other than Myf Maywald's argument to me, and I accept Ms Maywald's argument that it is worthy of an investigation. Once we have all the evidence from the coroners, the medical fraternity, the health system and the people that have found themselves in Ms Maywald's situation, the parliament can then make a decision about whether there needs to be a change in the law.

The support group of Myf Maywald has been running a petition. I think that the preamble for the petition sets out well their argument as to why their needs to be this report into this issue. The preamble says:

The coroner cannot investigate any deaths of babies in utero—stillborn babies. No matter the circumstances or gestational age, a baby in one moment is not eligible for a coronial inquest and, a moment later (once a breath is taken), he or she is. Impact to parents, families and society is the same for a baby that is capable of independent life no matter whether a breath is taken. The coroner's influence and powers is needed just the same: to investigate; to hold accountable; to bring awareness; to change. It is the institution that shines light on deaths of an unusual or concerning nature and recommends changes so these events don't happen in the future.

Importantly, the number of stillbirth deaths has not changed, despite improvement in medical practice and technology, since the 1980s. And 30-35 per cent of babies born still are said to have died of 'causes unknown'. The Coroners Court can potentially help understand these deaths and ultimately motivate change. So we [that is, the lobby group] seek a change to the Coroners Act so that these babies' deaths can be under the jurisdiction of the Coroners Court.

The reason the lobby group has suggested that 28 weeks be the age is that it uniforms this particular inquiry with other legislation.

As I said, the Liberal Party and I are of the view that we need more information to judge whether there is a need for the Coroner to have these powers. We would like to hear from the Coroner, we would like to hear from the medical experts in this field, and we would like an independent set of eyes—that is, through the calm research of the Legislative Review Committee—to hear the evidence and make some recommendations to the parliament.

The loss of a child is traumatic for those families involved. In Myf Maywald's case, the trauma is added to because the Coroner was unable to investigate the death of her child. Obviously, it adds to the trauma for those families who find themselves in her situation. So I say to the parliament that I believe it would be well served to at least consider this question, it would be well served to ask the Legislative Review Committee to look at what is a very technical and very emotional matter. The parliament can ultimately listen to the Legislative Review Committee's findings and then consider any changes to the act.

With those few words, I thank Myf Maywald for her courage in coming forward. I hope the parliament can see its way clear to referring this matter to the Legislative Review Committee so that the parliament can be properly informed about the circumstances and issues around this matter and make a judgement at some stage in the future about whether reform is warranted.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mrs Geraghty.

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