Carey Hume at an inquest in 2022. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
An imbalance in the coronial system between lawyered-up government agencies and bereaved families needs to be reviewed, say those families.
Figures obtained by Checkpoint show that for two long-running cases, Te Whatu Ora Health NZ spent more than $100,000 on legal costs.
In contrast, the families of the people who died when in hospital care were not eligible for legal aid and could not afford lawyers, and were forced to represent themselves.
One of the cases involved Erica Hume, who is suspected of taking her own life at Palmerston North Hospital's mental health ward in May 2014.
More than a decade later, her family are still waiting for the findings of an inquest held two years ago.
Health NZ and its predecessor MidCentral District Health Board spent almost $114,000 in legal costs on the matter.
Erica's mother Carey Hume said that amount was shocking, and families representing themselves at inquests were up against it.
"It's a lot of pressure. You're there because you've lost a family member, so you're already under that stress," she said.
"You feel like you don't want to let that family member down.
"In our case, we put a lot of hours in prepping for things and trying to think what it will be about, what we will encounter, and you've got the stress of dealing with lawyers who know how to phrase things."
Calls to review coronial system pitting govt agencies
More than a dozen lawyers represented various parties, such as individual medical professionals, at Erica Hume's inquest.
Meanwhile, her parents Carey and Owen were questioning witnesses and reading documents themselves - and they were also struck down with Covid.
Carey Hume said one of the hardest parts was constant changes in witnesses, meaning they'd often be up until the early hours preparing to question someone, then return to court early the next day.
She would like to see the rules change so families had access to a high-quality lawyers, as government entities did, or for no parties to have lawyers.
Experienced inquest lawyer Moira Macnab agreed change was required, saying bereaved families should receive the same amount hospital boards or other agencies spent on lawyers.
"It's really important that if somebody dies - particularly if they die in a hospital - that a thorough inquiry is undertaken to see whether or not you can find things to stop other people dying.
"One problem is that with families who can't afford lawyers and, with legal aid you have to qualify on very tight finance grounds, is that you have that imbalance."
Balance was also important in matters of public interest.
"I think one reason why, for example, we have so many deaths in mental services is we don't have families properly represented and hospital boards kind of get away with controlling the inquest by simply being the party that's there with senior counsel to control what happens."
Health NZ has also paid $102,000 in legal costs associated with the inquest of Shaun Gray, who also died in a suspected suicide at Palmerston North Hospital in 2014.
Health NZ said it was standard practice for parties to be represented in court processes, and it took advantage of government rates for lawyers.
A spokesman for justice minister Paul Goldsmith said there were no current plans to review the Legal Service Act, covering legal aid eligibility.
At present only people on low incomes - below $40,000 for a couple with no dependent children - can get legal aid for an inquest.
Carey Hume said it was wrong that criminal legal aid was easier to obtain than help for families facing inquests.
"If I was a criminal and had broken the law we would have got better legal aid assistance then what we did when our daughter died, through no fault of our own."
Auckland University law professor Mark Henaghan said it was important that at coronial inquests that all relevant questions and points were raised.
If there was a disparity in families' access to justice compared with organisations that could afford lawyers that might not happen.
"I think it is an imbalance. Obviously the hospital wants to keep its good name, and put the best possible arguments forward for what happened, but also the family have a very vested interest.
"There should be legal aid for families to do that. Sometimes they do get lawyers if they can afford it, but it shouldn't be a lottery."