This letter disputes a suggestion by the author of a previous article. R. Kosky (Med J Aust 1987) noted, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ mortality data, that the proportion of undetermined deaths (no discernible suicidal or accidental cause) relative to suicides decreased for boys aged 15-19, 1968-85, & claims that up to 20% of the rise in suicide rates may be artefactual due to a coroner’s trend to classify undetermined deaths as suicide.