An investigation into cultural and religious attitudes within Australia and New Zealand society towards death and the implications for the coronial system

Abstract

Traditionally, all deaths considered reportable in Australian states and territories have been the subject of coronial investigation and this has usually involved the performance of full autopsies. In recent times, given the facts of population migration and travel, together with a divergence of cultural and religious opinion as to the nature of death and the implications for the performance of an autopsy, coroners and their representatives are taking into account these factors and according to them more weight in the decision as to what sort of investigation is appropriate for each case. Increasingly, this is resulting in coroners issuing orders for external examinations only supplemented by radiological investigations or more limited autopsy procedures. The purpose of this presentation is to attempt to identify trends in attitudes towards death in the more prominent cultural and religious subgroups present within contemporary Australian and New Zealand society and the potential implications for the evolving coronial system. The Australian Aboriginal culture together with the Western faiths will be discussed. Surprisingly, the literature on this topic is quite limited, unsystematic, and compartmentalised with little cross discussion. Furthermore, it is apparent that each cultural/faith group comprises a heterogeneous mixture of attitudes. Consequently, generalisations are coarse approximations only. In view of these limitations many counsellors attached to forensic institutions proceed on the grounds of anecdote and personal experience. It is apparent that more systematic research is required in this increasingly important area.