New from the Court of Appeal: an inquest is not a ‘surrogate public inquiry’ By Peter Merchant, , Gemma Brannigan As the arguments about whether an inquest should be a wider ‘Article 2’ inquiry rumble on in…
Prevention of Future Deaths Reports – a look at themes By Peter Merchant, Louise Wiltshire, Tracey Longfield, Gill Weatherill The steady flow of Prevention of Future Deaths Reports (PFDs) issued by coroners to health and…
What does the future hold for CQC regulation? - Have your say By Corinne Slingo, Anna Hart, Peter Merchant The window of opportunity is still open (until 4 March, when the consultation closes) to influence…
Prevention of Future Deaths Reports - Impact of Revised Guidance? By Peter Merchant, Will Pickles Prevention of Future Deaths Reports (PFDs) made by coroners to address concerns arising from…
When to notify deaths to the Coroner: New legal framework from 1st October By Peter Merchant, Louise Wiltshire It has been a long time coming, but doctors are finally about to have a clearer legal steer on when…
Lower threshold for suicide conclusions upheld by Court of Appeal By Peter Merchant, Louise Wiltshire Before July 2018, it had been settled law going back decades that coroners/juries had to be ‘sure’…
Medical Examiners from April 2019? The Latest By Peter Merchant, Louise Wiltshire Although the government has been saying for some time that a national system of medical examiners…
Bar lowered for suicide conclusions in inquests By Peter Merchant, What is the standard of proof required for a coroner or jury to reach a conclusion of 'suicide'? …
Latest on Article 2 inquests: A high hurdle? By Peter Merchant, When should an inquest be an Article 2 inquest (i.e…
Deaths Scrutiny: Change Edges Closer By Peter Merchant, Belinda Dix It's been a long time coming, but the government has just published its response to the…
Fewer Inquests: A new trend? By Peter Merchant Summary Fewer deaths being reported to coroners and fewer inquests being opened - this is the…
A new dawn for NHS incident investigations? Have your say by 12 June 2018 By Peter Merchant, Belinda Dix Summary With learning from incidents being seen as the key to safer care, the government, CQC and…
Spotlight on Prevention of Future Deaths Reports By Peter Merchant, Belinda Dix, Robyn Reed Summary What can we take from the steady flow of Prevention of Future Deaths Reports (PFDs)…
No more mandatory inquests for DoLS cases By Peter Merchant From 3 April 2017, deaths of people subject to the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) will no…
