Is there no limit to what people will blame on diabetes?? Because apparently now it’s being blamed for the death of a woman after she was violently assaulted.

Emma Bates, a 49 year old woman from Cobram (a country town in Victoria) was found dead in her home on Tuesday. She had serious injuries to her head and upper body after being allegedly bashed by a neighbour. 

Friends and family have spoken about Emma and in their tributes, we learnt that she loved cats and was always helping people in her community. She had six siblings and was affectionately known in her family as the ‘crazy cat lady aunt’. It’s important to think about these sorts of things, because while we’re Counting Dead Women in Australia it’s far too easy to get lost in the horror of a rapidly increasing number, and stop centring the women behind each and every one of those numbers. 

Emma also happened to live with type 1 diabetes. And because she lived with type 1 diabetes, the man who allegedly assaulted her has not been charged with manslaughter or murder because there’s uncertainty if it was the horrific injuries he’s been accused of inflicting or her diabetes that caused her death. His 13 charges include intentionally causing injury, recklessly causing injury, aggravated assault of a female and unlawful assault. This from an Australian newspaper: 

‘… police told the family that murder or manslaughter charges were “off the table” after an early post-mortem examination was inconclusive about Bates’ cause of death.

She said the examination could not confirm whether Bates’ injuries caused her death, or whether her illnesses had played a part.’

Diabetes gets blamed for fucking everything.

Emma Bates. Say her name. Remember her name. She was one of us, one of our community. She lived with diabetes. And now it’s being used to diminish the severity of how her life ended.