Tasmania Police says there's insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges over allegations that death certificates were falsified at the state's second largest hospital. The decision has come as a disappointment to the whistleblower who raised concerns, but the man at the centre of the controversy says he never did anything wrong.
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00:00An independent review last year raised serious concerns about how dozens of deaths at the
00:07Launceston General Hospital had not been referred to the coroner.
00:12Police were asked to investigate, but they now say no laws were breached.
00:17I think it's a sad moment for the Tasmanian community, especially those impacted.
00:23Nurse and midwife Amanda Duncan was a whistleblower who told a parliamentary inquiry that the
00:29hospital's former Director of Medical Services, Peter Renshaw, had falsified death certificates.
00:35Her allegations sparked a review which found the former staff member had engaged in a repeated
00:41pattern of acting outside the scope of the Act that governs certification, and recommended
00:4729 deaths be referred to the coroner.
00:51The Health Department referred the matter to police, but following advice from the Director
00:55of Public Prosecutions, police say there's insufficient evidence to proceed with any
01:01criminal charges.
01:02Dr. Renshaw, whose medical practitioner's registration has been suspended, told the
01:08ABC he's pleased with the outcome of the police investigation, saying I have always maintained
01:14that all death certificates issued by me, or on my advice at LGH, were clinically appropriate
01:20and fully compliant.
01:22For others, the outcome is a disappointment.
01:25I think a lot of people were looking for accountability, and with the police deciding
01:30not to press charges, many people are going to be asking questions about accountability.
01:36Since the review, the Health Department has been doing random audits of death certificates,
01:40some going back almost two decades.
01:44So far we've found no additional cases for referral to the coroner, or referral to birth
01:49tests and marriages.
01:50The coroner's office says it's continuing to investigate the deaths referred to it last
01:55year.