Coroner's report. II.

  • Hussey, E. L. (Edward Law)
Date:
[1890]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Coroner's report. II. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    one, that the man died “an unnatural death, and in the other, that the child died “a violent death;” both being cases in which the Coroner is required by the Coroners Act to summon a Jury, and hold an Inquest. In such cases, and in cases where the true cause of death is concealed, or misrepresented, at the time of registration, and where, therefore, reason- able cause of suspicion exists, I have been un- willing to have the body dug up, unless it is likely that some measure of public good will be gained by it. I am not sure that the excuse would be allowed on complaint, made to the Lord Chancellor, of neglect of the clear words of the Coroners Act, — that a Jury should be sum- moned, and an Inquest held. No discretion, whether or not there shall be an Inquest, — is now left to the Coroner. It may be a question, whether Medical men, in giving a certificate for registration in such cases, do not lay themselves open to prosecution for helping the burial of a body without the Inquest required by law. In many cases, the cause of death certified and registered is as vague, and as far from represent- ing the cause, as in the old Bills of Mortality. n the tabular list of deaths at the Radc i e n r mary, printed in the Annual Report for 1887, tie cause of death in 35 is from exhaustion, in 7 from asphyxia, in 3 from syncope, in 3 from shoe , an