Health, death and Indigenous Australians in the coronial system.

This paper details research conducted in Queensland during the first year of operation of the new Coroners Act 2003. Information was gathered from all completed investigations between December 2003 and December 2004 across five categories of death: accidental, suicide, natural, medical and homicide. It was found that 25 percent of the total number of Indigenous deaths recorded in 2004 were reported to, and investigated by, the Coroner, in comparison to 9.4 percent of non- Indigenous deaths. Moreover, Indigenous people were found to be over-represented in each category of death, except in death in a medical setting, where they were absent. This paper discusses these findings in detail, following the insights gained from the work of Tatz (1999, 2001, 2005) and Morrissey (2003). It also discusses a further outcome of this situation -- the over-representation of Indigenous people in figures for full internal autopsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]