by Jerome Hughes
THERE has been a significant increase in the number of suicides in County Donegal due to mental health issues associated with Covid-19, according to the County Coroner.
Dr Denis McCauley told the Donegal News: “Unfortunately, there was an increase in the number of suicides in 2023, many more than there would have been previously, and I think Covid is a factor in that. Long Covid has had a psychological impact. Covid in general has affected mental health in Ireland and, of course, in Donegal.”
The core function of the Coroner Service is to investigate sudden and unexplained deaths so that a death certificate can be issued.
They have full possession rights of a body until such time they are satisfied that the investigation into a sudden death has been completed.
A corner, Dr. McCauley explains, has a remit to try and ensure that the circumstances of a death might be prevented from happening again.
“We make recommendations after an inquest so that changes are made to avoid a similar death from occurring in the future.
“In Donegal we have four pathologists who provide fantastic service. If there’s a suspicion that criminality might have been involved in a death, and a medical and legal forensic investigation is needed, then the State Pathologist is called up.”
Based in Stranorlar, Dr. McCauley is also a GP.
“There is currently a review of the coroner’s service. As things stand it functions very well despite limited resources,” he said.
The Coroner’s Service is run by 34 coroners around Ireland who are either solicitors or GPs. Dr. McCauley has expressed concerns regarding the potential outcome of the current review, stating: “I’m worried it might result in a potentially flashy but unproductive service.”
As County Coroner, Dr. McCauley says he’s on call every hour of every day.
“For example, I had four calls on Christmas Day. We provide an unseen but very important service to Ireland.
“The review of the service has to maintain that aspect of it; the accessibility and decision-making at any time of the day or night.”
You might think that Dr. McCauley is concerned about workload. However, he maintains that being both a GP and a coroner are roles that actually compliment each other.
“It dovetails very well. The roles have similarities in that you have to be on call all the time. You have to be able to take information, analyse it, and make a decision as to whether a post-mortem is necessary or whether, after discussion with the family’s doctor and the family themselves, a death cert can be issued without proceeding with a post-mortem.”
After analysing post-mortem results Dr. McCauley decides if it was a natural or an unnatural death. In the case of the latter he might proceed with a further investigation and perhaps an inquest.
“An inquest is one of the most fascinating processes. At the end of the inquest all the facts of the death are known but at the same time there’s no blame attributed.”
Initially, Dr. McCauley was Assistant Coroner for east Donegal before eventually being appointed County Coroner by the Department of Justice.
He has indicated that the role is likely to expand in the future due to our growing population.
“I anticipate that the next coroner of Donegal will hold a full time, stand-alone post, definitely.”
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