The Chief Coroner’s Guidance on COVID-19 The Chief Coroner’s Guidance on COVID-19 (No.34) was issued on 26 March 2020 and reinforced on 27 March 2020 with further guidance (No.35). It is helpful to be read in conjunction with the Chief Coroner’s COVID-19 Note #3. It is intended to be the main piece of guidance for […]
Read More… from Coroners’ Courts open for urgent and essential business only
R (Lewis) v Senior Coroner for North West Kent [2020] EWHC, 12.2.2020 A coroner who chooses not to give reasons for a controversial decision may as well hand the aggrieved interested person their acknowledgement of service for the forthcoming judicial review claim along with the record of inquest. Giving reasons is a fundamental aspect of […]
Read More… from A detained patient dying from malnutrition in hospital clearly looks like neglect
R (Lee) v HM Assistant Coroner for Sunderland [2019] EWHC 3227 (Admin), 12.9.19 It is now commonplace in advance of inquests for coroners to rule on their scope, including whether possible state responsibility requires the inquest to meet the UK’s Art 2 procedural obligations. That task is not easy when the extent of Art 2 […]
Read More… from When might Article 2 apply to deaths of patients in the community?
The Notification of Deaths Regulations 2019 The Notification of Deaths Regulations 2019[1] come into effect on 1 October 2019 and will place a legal duty on ALL doctors who come to know of a death to ensure it has been reported to a Coroner where any of the circumstances that might trigger the Coroner’s investigatory duties appear […]
Read More… from A new legal duty on doctors to report deaths to Coroners
Fullick v The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2019] EWHC 1941 (QB), 25.7.2019 The funding of representation for the bereaved at inquests is not just an un-level playing field, but a total quagmire often more akin to the aftermath of an outing of the 1988 Pontypool front row on a rainy day in December. […]