For a few months now, we have been writing about record high all cause death rates. We are not alone; highly vaccinated countries around the world are having the same problem. So why is no one taking any notice?
Lives have become a little cheap. Apparently, no more so than in the minds of some of our journalists. Lynley Ward is the news director of the NZ Herald. Last night the Herald published her assessment of elevated all-cause mortality so far in 2022 under the title “Covid-19 Omicron outbreak: Infection deaths behind New Zealand’s record 2022 mortality rate“. Yes, she is right. Infection deaths are behind New Zealand’s record 2022 mortality—a long way behind. The unhappy matter of at least 2000 extra deaths in 2022 unrelated to Covid doesn’t seem to bother her. It bothers me.
The article discusses a lot of data but manages to hide the obvious—deaths are up all round and it’s not due solely to Covid. We are told that the elderly are dying, that Maori and Pasifika are dying too young, and that deaths are affecting all age groups. Sadly these stats have always been true. What is actually worrying about the 2022 figures?:—Many more people are dying among every ethnic group and every age bracket, too many to dismiss as inconsequential or blame on Covid
The Casual Treatment of High Death Rates is a Phenomenon of the Pandemic
Two days ago I wrote to the Chief Commissioner of Police Andrew Coster asking him to investigate record excess deaths. I received a very prompt reply yesterday from his Principal Advisor:
“Police will not be investigating these matters, other than performing our duties under the Coroners Act 2006, as there is no evidence that would indicate that an offence has been committed by any party…..It is the role of the Coroner to establish cause of death and determine whether the public interest would be served by a death being investigated by Police or other authority.”
So in the eyes of the police, the Coroner’s office is the responsible party. I wrote back to Commissioner Coster’s PA reiterating my concerns and expressing disappointment. In essence, my reply pointed out:
“The tools used to investigate multiple deaths have to go beyond those employed in individual cases and may require the services of a number of parties….There is a presumption of vaccination safety and government departmental competence, but this is not justified given the present death rates….I remain committed to a discussion of the issue with the Commissioner.”
So what does this mean? Multiple deaths from a single cause is not actually that rare a circumstance. Anyone familiar with true crime TV will be aware of cases where suddenly the penny drops and the police realise that a number of deaths occurred in such a similar manner that they are forced to the conclusion that a serial killer is on the loose. The coroner is not usually the one noticing this; it is an alert detective.
Can the Coroner Help the Police Out Here?
I also sent my letter to the Chief Coroner. The Coronial Services website (last updated on 11th October 2022) lists Judge Deborah Marshall as Chief Coroner, so I addressed my letter accordingly. But, and it is a big but, Judge Deborah Marshall announced her resignation in July 2021, 16 months ago. Unaccountably the government has not yet appointed any replacement, despite record deaths and record delays in the completion of coronial verdicts. The implication is that the government really doesn’t care about what is causing deaths. They are happy to let it be known via the media that “it must be Covid, what else?”.
The situation is dire. It currently takes an average of more than two years to complete a coroner’s report and four years to hold an inquest. In 2012 there were 330 inquests held. In 2020 there were just 24. The number of unresolved coronial enquiries in 2021 ran into hundreds. I can imagine that the backlog in 2022 would be in the thousands if it wasn’t for the fact that the government now has a blanket excuse for all deaths—it’s Covid. And incredibly they have not appointed a chief coroner and they have introduced legislation to allow coroners to record a verdict of ‘cause unknown’!!!
Coroners do not in fact usually have medical expertise, they are lawyers. So they are singularly ill-equipped to judge what is causing excess all-cause deaths in highly vaccinated countries, including our own, during the pandemic. They have to rely on the advice of the Ministry of Health.
It may not have escaped your notice that as Ministry of Health officials and medical professionals are the ones actually authorising and administering novel biotechnology mRNA vaccines, they might be reluctant to admit under oath to a coroner that there is rapidly increasing published evidence that Covid vaccines are causing a lot of adverse effects—this is by now indisputable. If they did, they would be implicating themselves in a crime. Instead, as they say in America, they are taking the fifth.
The Ministry of Health is Not Releasing Summary Data About Deaths
How many are being admitted to hospital or dying of cancer, heart disease, strokes, neurological conditions etc. compared to prior years? Without this data, even the best of Andrew Coster’s detectives would be hard pressed to start an investigation. The Ministry of Health is taking the fifth. They are releasing data and reports like this one, but it does not contain the key data needed to discover why so many people are dying (see my letter to Commissioner Coster for a summary of what data is being withheld by the Ministry of Health).
So we have what I call a three cornered hat. The Police, Coronial Services, and the Ministry of Health are all passing the buck and, happily for them, the buck stops at Covid. All three are concerned about single deaths, but 2000+ deaths can be safely ignored. No one is to blame, we can all go home and forget all about our neighbours and family members dying prematurely. I suppose that is what former Chief Coroner Judge Deborah Marshall decided to do.
The level of unconcern is stunning. In fact, our government reminds me of someone who has prematurely aged and needs to retire soon. While other players in government employment are simply happy that they don’t have to do anything out of their comfort zone. It is damning. As a nation, we need to wake up. We are stakeholders, not passive bystanders. Our duty is to keep the government honest and insist that government departments function as they should in a liberal democracy—with diligence, alertness, and responsibility.
