A Cot Death Inquiry

1 x 43 mins

Prime time documentary TVNZ, 2005

On 17 July 2001 identical twin girls died together in the cot they shared.  They were three months old.  This documentary follows the case as it goes before a coroner, even though there are no suspicious circumstances, because of the rarity of simultaneous deaths. 

The deaths have all the indications of Cot Deaths.  But what is a ‘Cot Death’?  It means nothing can be found in the autopsies, the death scene investigation, or the clinical history of the babies to indicate a cause of death.  We’ve been certifying this kind of death as Cot Death or SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) since 1969.  For 35 years no-one has been able to advance any better reason why New Zealand has had the highest Cot Death rates of all comparable countries for the last 18 years - that’s since comparisons were first made.  50 babies, that’s one baby a week, in New Zealand die every year, at the time this documentary was made.

This New Zealand on Air funded documentary uncovers research which could possibly point to a mechanism of death in the case of the twins.  The problem is that it’s only research and the medical profession won’t use it as a diagnostic tool.