CORONERS – PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Since the first edition of this book, a number of very significant events, such as the trial and subsequent conviction of Dr Harold Shipman and separate concerns about organ retention following enquiries into events at Alder Hey and other hospitals, have focused the attention of the legal and medical professions and the general public itself on the processes involved in the investigation of sudden death.

The nature of the coronership at present is that it responds to and investigates those deaths which have been referred to it for a wide variety of reasons (just over one third of all deaths in England and Wales at the present time), rather than pro-actively screening all deaths that occur, whether in the community or in hospital, and then determining which ones should be subjected to further scrutiny.

The latter approach is not allowed by the law as it currently stands but, in the wake of Dr Shipman's conviction, there have been three separate enquiries examining the way in which sudden death is investigated, and it is likely that there will ultimately be new legislation and subsequent changes to the way in which all deaths are investigated and the manner in which coroners carry out their duties.