Coroner's Finding: Decision in relation to Martin 'Marjorie' Harwood

38y · Female·end stage renal failure (Stage 5 chronic kidney disease)

Ms Harwood, a 38-year-old transgender woman with end-stage renal disease, died of natural causes following refusal of dialysis. Her mother claimed the death was suicide prompted by fear of returning to prison following an alleged 2017 rape. The coroner found no credible evidence of a 2017 sexual assault in prison, no contemporaneous reports or institutional documentation, and noted Ms Harwood had long been equivocal about undertaking dialysis due to her difficulty maintaining strict regimens amid substance use and psychiatric illness. Declining life-saving treatment for a terminal natural disease does not constitute suicide. The coroner declined coronial jurisdiction, finding the death was due to natural causes and not reportable.