Causes of Death Hospital data Hospital data need to be interpreted with some caution. Some under-reporting may therefore be involved. Further, because there are potential differences in reporting procedures, comparisons between States should be made with caution. It should also be noted that not all cases of self-inflicted injury will have suicide as the intended result. At best the figures presented here can be seen as an indicator of self-destructive behaviour.
Separations comprise discharge, transfer to another hospital or death in hospital.
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody focused attention on the high proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who die in custody. However, deaths in custody for the total population also increased substantially in the late 1980s. Hanging also accounted for two thirds of the female deaths in custody 4 . The total number of deaths in custody of young men increased four-fold in one year, from 7 in 1986 to 29 in 1987. 24 of these deaths were from hanging, accounting for nearly a quarter of all young male suicide deaths from hanging, strangulation and suffocation.