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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    same evidence, — or evidence more formal, — ought to be brought to the Jury. In Inquests at the Radcliffe Infirmary, I required that the Nurse, or other person present at the time of death, should come before me; and that the Physician or Surgeon, who had the Patient under his charge, should attend, to prove the cause of death. Being afterwards in communication with per- sons connected with the Registrar General’s office, I found their opinion to be that, if the particulars required for registration were proved by credible testimony, to the satisfaction of the Jury, the Coroner need not, as a general rule, call for other evidence of a formal character. Upon this, I was satisfied to take the opinion of the Physicians and Surgeons from the House-Surgeon; and so to re- lease them from attendance at the Inquest. But, in a criminal case, — one likely to be brought before the Superior Courts for trial, — such testimony, given at second hand, is not suf- ficient as evidence. The medical man, who un- dertook the charge of the deceased person, and prescribed the treatment for him, ought himself to attend, and give evidence in the Coroners Court, that his evidence may be taken in writing, for production at the trial of the person charged by the verdict of the Jury, At the Hospitals in London, and in the large towns, no objection is made by the Physicians and Surgeons to their attending, when desired by the