Another issue, frog, is that it is often very difficult to determine whether a death is suicide. Contrary to what some people may believe, very few people leave a suicide note.

So if someone drives their car into a tree and dies, is it suicide or is it an accident? If someone takes a fatal overdose of prescription drugs, is it suicide or is it an accident?

Coroners often return open verdicts, because there is insufficient evidence to make a determination on the balance of probabilities. So how is ACC meant to make such a determination?

When I used to work as an ACC claimant advocate I dealt with several cases where ACC wrongly declined entitlements to the family of a person who had dies by arguing that the death was suicide – only to have their decision overturned at review or appeal.

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