The Use of Personal Health Information in the Coroner's Inquiry

A pathologist appointed by the coroner may feel that his or her role is to review the medical notes, perform a post-mortem examination and then interpret the findings in the light of clinical information and any other information received from the coroner, and include in the clinico-pathological summary a cause of death. We believe that such an approach is not in accordance with the legal position relating to coroners' inquests. The coroner has no automatic right to see the medical notes (and neither does the coroner's pathologist); where there is, or may be, dispute as to the circumstances leading to death, the proper way for information in the medical record to be presented at the coroner's inquest is for the maker of any note to give oral evidence. Where the cause of death requires interpretation of the clinical history or knowledge of any circumstantial evidence, a pathologist should refrain from giving a cause of death; such a task is for the court, having heard all the evidence — medical or not — relating to the death.