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Showing posts with label death and dying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label death and dying. Show all posts
21 June 2014
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3. Who can report a death to the Coroner?
Short answer - anyone! Yes, that's right, you don't have to be a professional to report a death to the Coroner. But let's look who most commonly reports:
1. Medical Professionals
Mostly it will be hospital doctors who are required to report certain deaths to the Coroner of patients who died in hospital; also GP's (General Practitioner's) when a patient died at home and the cannot issue a Medical Certificate of the cause of death
(see #2 - reasons why a death needs to be referred to the Coroner.)
2. Police
For any violent / accidental death, the police will be at the scene and will report the death to the Coroner. Also, the police will be called to any death not at hospital where there is no Doctor present who can state that this was an expected death. It will than be up to the Coroner and their appointed funeral director to move the body.
3. Funeral Directors
Funeral Directors will need to report a death to the Coroner if the plan to move a body out of England/Wales or if a body is coming into the country from abroad (to be buried/cremated in England/Wales).
4. The Registrar of Deaths, Births and Marriages
It does happen sometimes that a death is going to be registered and the Registrars are not content with the cause of death written on the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death and refer the death to the Coroner. This would only happen if it was not originally referred to the Coroner. One example of this is when a Doctor is not aware that he/she has to refer certain deaths to the Coroner i.e. death related to employment or deaths after an operation.
5. The family of a deceased person or indeed, anyone (does not need to be the family of the deceased person, could be a friend, carer etc)
It is rare but it does happen that there is no obvious reason why a death needs to be reported to the Coroner (ie. appears completely natural causes) but for some reason the family are unhappy and want the Coroner to investigate. We will ask the family to write in with their particular concerns and provide supporting evidence, and than the Coroner will assess whether it warrants a Coroner's investigation. Quite often, families are unaware what the Coroner actually does and what are our limitations - legal limitations. For example, the Coroner has nothing to do with the litigation process - that is legally very different. Often, families are unhappy about treatment in hospital etc, but again, this is not necessarily something the Coroner would investigate, and we would guide the family to the hospital complaints procedure (which we are not involved in at all). But if this 'complaint' could be linked to the cause of death, than the Coroner could investigate - which would usually mean a post mortem.
Ok, let me give you an example. Lets say the family state that the deceased person was not given enough food and drink in hospital. If the post mortem says that the person died from cancer, than the family would have to take their complaint about the treatment to the hospital. However, if the post mortem finds that malnutrition contributed to the death, than the Coroner would probably start an investigation - only to establish the circumstances of the death and not to 'sue' the hospital.
And, as always, there are many grey areas ….
Oh, and another thought : A death can only be reported to the Coroner if there is a dead body - so technically, once 'life has been pronounced extinct'. And legally, you are not dead until a person who is authorised to say so pronounces you dead. Causes some confusion sometimes! I will talk about this in next week's post.
Peggy x
14 June 2014
What kind of deaths do get reported to the Coroner in England/Wales?
Firstly, it's important to note that not every death gets reported to the Coroner. If someone dies from obvious natural causes and the treating doctor is in a position to issue the 'Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death', than the Coroner does not need to be involved.
Let's start with the obvious deaths which would need to get reported to the Coroner.
- Suspicious death
- shooting
- stabbing
- strangulation / smothering
- if the death occurred from injuries sustained in a fight
- if the death occurred after a any assault, i.e. robbery victim got pushed over, hits his head and now dies
- if police feel the circumstances are not clear i.e. someone gets found deceased in a property and the property was unlocked, items disturbed, lots of blood etc
- anything really which the police deem suspicious
Importantly, in the first instance, it is the police who decides that the death could be suspicious and not the Coroner. I always tell bereaved families 'if it was suspicious, than you would not talking to me now, but to a Detective.'
Of course, if the Coroner's Office finds anything untoward in the course of our investigation which initially was deemed as 'non-suspicious' we can than inform the police. But this is rare and mostly happens when subsequently new information comes to light.
2. It is believed that the cause of death would be clearly unnatural (= not naturally occurring disease)
- road traffic collision
- found in water (river / lake or bath water)
- electrocution
- suspension (hanging)
- drugs involved (either known drug user, or drugs / drug paraphernalia found nearby)
- possible medication overdose (either deliberate or accidental)
- auto-erotic
- trips / falls (down stairs etc)
This is not an exclusive list.
Please also note that the words 'accident' or 'suicide' are not causes of death, but a Coroner's verdict (I will write about Coroner's verdicts at a later stage on in this series). To illustrate - a hanging can be suicide or accidental.
3. The medical cause of death is unknown and/or the death was unexpected
This mostly is to do with the fact that in England and Wales, it is not sufficient to simply put 'natural causes' on the Medical Certificate of the Case of Death (MCCD -an MCCD allows you to register the death, obtain a death certificate and bury/cremate the body.) The Doctor who issues such certificate must be reasonably sure of the medical cause of death (to the best of his/her knowledge and belief). In order for a Doctor to issue a MCCD, they would need to fulfil certain conditions:
- they need to have seen the patient in his lifetime
- they need to have treated the patient in the last 14 days
- they need to know the medical cause of death to the best of their knowledge and belief
If the doctor does not meet those conditions, he/she needs to report the death to the Coroner. This doesn't always mean that a post mortem needs to be done. We can authorise the doctor to issue an MCCD if the Coroner is satisfied that no further investigation is needed. Examples of those are: the doctor has not seen the patient within 2 weeks, but the death was clearly expected and the cause of death known (i.e. cancer patient) or the doctor who usually sees the patient is on holiday, but his colleague confirms the death was expected and the cause of death is known.
- decomposed body (too decomposed to ascertain a medical cause of death)
4. The death is believed to be related to medical treatment
- death occurred during or shortly after an operation
- possible errors with medication
- death could be related to procedures or treatment i.e. radiotherapy
5. Work-related death
- if death occurred whilst being at work and is thought to be directly related to the work i.e. roofer falls from ladder
- industrial disease (asbestosis)
6. Death in Prison, Police Custody or whilst being detained in a Mental Health Unit
These will always need to be investigated, even if thought to be natural causes i.e. prisoner died from cancer.
The reason for this is that whilst detained, the deceased is not at liberty i.e. relies on other to a certain extent to get medical treatment, health conditions etc.
7. Others not covered by above
- neglect (either self-neglect or by others)
- if the death occurred in hospital less than 24 hrs of arriving
- body which will be taken out of England/Wales
- body which comes into the country
(not exclusive list, I may add to it as I come across others)
Which Coroner's jurisdiction (Coroner's area) will be dealing with a particular case?
The jurisdiction of which Coroner's district investigates is determined by 'where the body is currently lying' . In most cases, this will be the place of death i.e. a person's home address, the hospital, street location.
There are no shared databases, so my Coroner's Office would not know anything about a death which occurred in another area nor would we have access to any information.
Jurisdiction of a case can be transferred to another Coroner. This happens mostly when the body is lying in one jurisdiction, but the incident occurred in another. One example: a person is involved in a road traffic collision in Area 1, but gets flown to a Specialist Hospital in Area 2. The death would be reported to the Coroner in Area 2 but they may approach the Coroner for Area 1 to see if they take this case back. As you can imagine, some jurisdictions (areas) have big trauma hospitals and thus would pick up all the trauma deaths. Not only an issue of work distribution, but if the accident occurred in another area, we can assume that the investigation will take place in the different area and the family may live in that area. So it's also practicalities.
28 January 2014
Title
|
Motherless Daughters: A Legacy of Loss
|
Author
| Hope Edelman |
Publisher
| Da Capo Press |
Publication Date
|
21 March 2006 (2nd Edition)
|
Pages
| 426 |
Genre
| Family, Social, Death and Dying |
From the blurp:
' For all women who have lost their mohers and who have looked for comfort and understanding, here at last is a brave and powerful book offering experience and insight. Ask any women who has lost her mother at an early (or any) age and she will tell you that her life is irrevocably altered: that this one fact forever changes who she is and who she will be. This is the first book that examines the profound effects of this loss on a woman's identity, personality, family, and life choices both immediately and as her life goes on.
Hope Edelman lost her own mother when she was seventeen. Her own story is interwoven with those of many others keen to share their common experience. In their own words they express how growing up without a mother continues to affect them in so many ways. Powerful and illuminating, it is a book which helps motherless women everywhere understand they are not alone'.
I got this book out of the library and had planned to read it in connection with my job, as I am dealing with bereaved people on a daily basis. I found this book often too emotional to read and found it very hard to detach myself, couldn't help but think that one day I will have to face this. (Luckily, I still have my mum). While I usually find it easy to detach myself from the subject at work, it was harder here, and I'm not sure it helped me a lot with my work, as I found it just upsetting. We usually get taught 'Show empathy, not pity', and that's what I try to do. I suppose if you are a bereaved daughter the book might help you to see that you are not alone and many others feel in a similar way.
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