A number of pending murder cases, including that of the murder of Veronica Guerin, could collapse if the State Pathologist, Prof John Harbison, died suddenly. Prof Harbison himself warned that his backlog of work was such that between 50 and 60 files remained uncompleted, and, if he died suddenly, he could not complete them and present the evidence in court.
Not all of these relate to "suspicious deaths" and only about half of the latter will turn out to be homicides. Prof Harbison said that the fact that he had carried the burden of this work himself over many years gave rise to the danger of cases not being proceeded with if he was not available to give evidence.
To counter this, he had proposed to the Department of Justice the appointment of a trainee State pathologist, who could accompany him on examinations relating to suspected homicides.
Prof Harbison was speaking to journalists at the opening of the 27th Congress of the International Academy of Legal Medicine, which is having its first English-language meeting in the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin. The congress takes place every three years, and Prof Harbison has been congress president since 1994.
Opening the congress, the Minister of State for Justice and Law Reform, Ms Mary Wallace, acknowledged that for many years the State had not given forensic pathology the attention it deserved. However, this was now being rectified with the planned appointment of a deputy State pathologist and the building of a new state-of-the-art laboratory at Beaumont Hospital. An inter-departmental group was examining the legislative framework for the service.
Prof Harbison told journalists that the new deputy State pathologist would be a female who would probably begin work after Christmas. However, he could not disclose her identity because negotiations on her contract were still continuing.
Another problem arising from his heavy workload is the fact that occasionally, if he has been called to one end of the State on a case and a violent killing takes place at another location, that body might have to remain at the scene for some time.
"It isn't essential, though it is desirable, for a pathologist to view the body at the scene. What is necessary is a medical presence at the scene with a suitable rectal thermometer to assess the time of death and to make an assessment of rigor mortis."
Doctors with some experience of sudden death, such as coroners, could do that, he said. To develop such a service, he and a colleague in UCD were discussing setting up a course in forensic medicine. Such a postgraduate course might be open to professionals such as lawyers and policemen as well as doctors, he said. "We could then have doctors around the country with time-of-death skills", he added.
Dr Harbison is professor of forensic medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons and teaches a course on the subject at Trinity College.
Violent deaths, as measured by calls to him, had increased over the past 20 years, he said. "In 1975 I had about 75 cases. This year so far I've had 45." He added that many of the cases referred to him 20 years ago would not be referred now because of the availability of hospital pathologists.
Only about half of "suspicious deaths" end up classified as homicides, and his totals do not necessarily tally with those of gardai, who have to base their figures on cases where there is sufficient evidence to initiate court proceedings.
In particular, he has noticed an increase in youth stabbings, especially in Dublin. However, he said that Stanley knife attacks, recently much in the news, were usually intended to maim, not kill. These knives were not lethal when used to stab a person in the chest or stomach. "You can only cut throats with a Stanley knife. They're no good for killing."