Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Legal systems: a world view
- 2 Scottish legal system
- 3 The Police in the United Kingdom
- 4 The practitioner's obligations
- 5 The doctor in court
- 6 Custody medicine: physical conditions
- 7 Custody medicine: mental illness and psychological conditions
- 8 Substance misuse
- 9 Alcohol, drugs and driving
- 10 Injury
- 11 Child abuse: physical
- 12 Child abuse: sexual
- 13 Adult sexual offences
- 14 Management of at-risk exposures and infection control in custody
- 15 Scenes of crime
- 16 Forensic science
- 17 Forensic dentistry
- 18 Investigation of death
- 19 Dealing with a major disaster
- 20 Occupational health of police officers
- Index
- References
18 - Investigation of death
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Legal systems: a world view
- 2 Scottish legal system
- 3 The Police in the United Kingdom
- 4 The practitioner's obligations
- 5 The doctor in court
- 6 Custody medicine: physical conditions
- 7 Custody medicine: mental illness and psychological conditions
- 8 Substance misuse
- 9 Alcohol, drugs and driving
- 10 Injury
- 11 Child abuse: physical
- 12 Child abuse: sexual
- 13 Adult sexual offences
- 14 Management of at-risk exposures and infection control in custody
- 15 Scenes of crime
- 16 Forensic science
- 17 Forensic dentistry
- 18 Investigation of death
- 19 Dealing with a major disaster
- 20 Occupational health of police officers
- Index
- References
Summary
Since the last edition of this book several significant events, notably the conviction of Dr Harold Shipman for the murder of a number of his patients and separate concerns about organ retention following inquiries into events at Alder Hey Hospital and elsewhere, have focused the attention of the general public and the legal and medical professions on the systems in place for the investigation of sudden death. Much notice was directed to the fact that Dr Shipman himself was able to certify the deaths as natural, thereby avoiding referral to and scrutiny by the coroner service. At the present time, coroners can legally respond only to referrals, and lack the legal powers to screen all deaths pro- actively.
Since the conviction of Dr Shipman, three separate inquiries into different aspects of the investigation and certification of sudden death have been held. Some of the resulting proposals will be looked at later but, despite the publication of a draft Coroners Bill in 2006, at the time of writing the law remains unchanged, as stated below. The coronership continues to respond to and investigate those deaths which have been referred to it for a wide variety of reasons (approaching nearly one half of all deaths in England and Wales, an increase from the previous level of just over one third), rather than screening all deaths that occur, whether in the community or in hospital, and then determining which ones should be subjected to further scrutiny.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Clinical Forensic Medicine , pp. 205 - 218Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009