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Who to report to the Coroner? A survey of intensive care unit directors and Her Majesty's Coroners in England and Wales
Author(s) -
Booth S. A.,
Wilkins M. L.,
Smith J. M.,
Park G. R.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2044.2003.03445.x
Subject(s) - coroner , medicine , majesty , intensive care unit , new england , unit (ring theory) , family medicine , medical emergency , law , intensive care medicine , poison control , suicide prevention , mathematics education , mathematics , politics , political science
Summary We performed a postal survey to assess the ability of intensive care unit directors and Her Majesty's Coroners to recognise deaths that should be reported to the local coroner. The survey questionnaire consisted of 12 hypothetical case scenarios. Coroners were significantly better at identifying reportable deaths than intensive care unit directors (median correct recognition scores of 11 (interquartile range 9.25–11) vs. 8 (interquartile range 7–10), respectively, p < 0.01). Deaths associated with an accident, medical treatments, industrial disease, neglect and substance abuse were significantly under‐reported by intensive care unit directors ( p < 0.01). Results show that significant numbers of deaths on intensive care units in England and Wales may not be being referred for further investigation, and that wide variation in local coroners' practices exists. Improvements in postgraduate medicolegal education about deaths reportable to a coroner are required. National regulations need to be more detailed and standardised so that regional variation is eliminated.