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April 10th, 2013 
A SYDNEY surgeon’s mother who died in unusual circumstances thought her son’s de facto partner was after his money, an inquest has heard.
The coronial inquest is investigating whether Dr Jerry Schwartz acted appropriately in signing the death certificates of his mother Eve Schwartz, 79, and her best friend Magda Wales, 76, who died three weeks apart in 2005.
The inquest has heard that Ms Schwartz’s death certificate listed her cause of death as lung cancer and a collapsed lung, but made no mention of cuts to her wrists.
Glebe Coroner’s Court has also heard that at the time of his mother’s death Dr Schwartz had been in a “tumultuous” relationship with his de facto partner Liliane Viselle.
Ms Viselle has previously been described at the inquest as a “gold digger”.
On Wednesday, the inquest heard that Mrs Schwartz told a friend, Nicholas Orsos, that she thought Ms Viselle was after her son’s money.
“Did Eve express an attitude that Liliane was after Jerry’s money?” counsel for Dr Schwartz asked Mr Orsos.
“Yes,” Mr Orsos replied.
Earlier, the inquest heard from Dr Konstantin Bosnic, an independent medical referee who has “audited” death certificates since the 1960s.
Dr Bosnic accepted signing documents related to Mrs Schwartz after she died, but told the inquest he couldn’t remember the case.
However, he said it wasn’t unusual for a doctor to sign the death certificate of a family member.
“I filled out the death certificate for my parents,” the witness said.
He said most errors doctors made on death certificates involved forgetting to fill out certain details, such as how long after death they had seen the body.
If an injury like lacerated wrists was not noted on a death certificate he would have reported it for “further investigations”, he said.
The inquest has previously heard that medical board guidelines advise against doctors performing such duties for family or friends.
Dr Schwartz, with his late parents, founded the Schwartz Family Company, which owns a dozen hotels in NSW and Victoria, a shopping centre, a medical centre and a brewery.
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