Fatal Accidents & Inquests overview
Want is the purpose of an inquest?
What are the possible verdicts as to how someone died?
Why should I be legally represented at an inquest hearing?
What is the difference between a clinical negligence claim and an Inquest hearing?
Why should I instruct Withy King?
What does this packaged product cover?
What will it Cost?
The Purpose of an Inquest
An Inquest is a fact-finding hearing directed towards answering 4 questions:
- Who died
- When they died
- Where they died
- How they came by their death
The first three questions are usually simply procedural, and very easy to answer.
The fourth question is how a loved one has died, is the more complicated and potentially helpful aspect of an Inquest.
An Inquest will not decide any questions of fault in terms of deciding whether or not the death of a loved one resulted from an act of negligence. That is question for the Civil Courts, which would have to be addressed as part of an associated, but quite separate, clinical negligence claim.
The Inquest hearing will also not decide any issues of criminal law. If there is any suggestion at any point in the Inquest that a loved one’s death might have resulted from a criminal act, the Inquest will be stopped and will not restart until any formal criminal proceedings have been concluded.
At the end of an Inquest hearing, the Coroner will reach a decision as to the cause of the person’s death (sometimes called the verdict).
What are the possible verdicts as to how someone died?
- Natural causes – this will be the verdict where, on a balance of probabilities, the cause of death was as a result of a naturally occurring disease/process running its course, e.g. heart failure.
- Accidental death – this will be the verdict if it is probable that the death arose directly from some event over which there was no human control, or was the consequence of an unintended act or omission, or was an unexpected and unintentional consequence of some deliberate human act.
- Suicide – this will be the verdict if the Coroner is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the person died as a result of a deliberate act done by them, intended to cause their death, and all other possible explanations have been ruled out.
- Dependence on drugs – this will be the verdict in the circumstances of a death of a confirmed drug addict from the poisoning effects of drugs.
- Non-dependent abuse of drugs – this will be the verdict where the death results from an over-use of drugs, where the deceased was not dependent upon the drug.
- Death due to recognised industrial disease or poisoning – this will be the verdict where the death arises as a consequence of the deceased’s employment.
- Unlawful killing – this will be the verdict where the Coroner is satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt that someone killed another, the deceased, without legal justification or excuse, with the intention to kill or to cause very serious injury, or that a person intentionally committed an unlawful and dangerous act which inadvertently caused death, or that there was a duty of care which was breached thereby causing death.
- Lawful killing – this will be the verdict if on the balance of probabilities it is found that the deceased died as a result of deliberate force but in a lawful manner such as self-defence, or to prevent a crime or assist in a lawful arrest.
- Open verdict – this is normally the verdict where the evidence does not fully disclose the cause of death, and one of the above other verdicts can therefore not be reached.
The verdicts of death from natural causes, industrial disease, dependence on drugs, non-dependent abuse of drugs, by suicide or accidental death can in addition be stated to have been contributed to by neglect or self-neglect:
- An addition to a verdict of ‘self-neglect’ is normally applied where the deceased contributed to their own death by a failure on their own part to take adequate food or water, to obtain basic medical attention or to obtain adequate shelter or heating.
- An addition to a verdict of ‘neglect’ will only be added where the Coroner is satisfied on a balance of probabilities that there was a gross failure to provide adequate food or water, to provide and procure basic medical attention or shelter or warmth, and the deceased was someone in a dependent position who could not provide it for themselves and that this failure has led to or contributed to the death.
Why should I be legally represented at an Inquest Hearing?
Specialist legal representation, such as that offered by this firm, can assist you greatly by ensuring that the facts of a love one’s death are fully explored, by questioning on your behalf the witnesses called to give evidence.
The Inquest hearing, whilst not deciding civil law cases including those of clinical negligence, can nevertheless provide extremely useful information at a very early stage to evaluate the prospects of succeeding and/or progressing a clinical negligence claim.
Even if you are not thinking of pursuing a clinical negligence claim, being legally represented can assist you and your family in asking questions of the relevant witnesses which will allow you to get closer to the truth of how your loved one died, that is what caused their death.
What is the difference between a clinical negligence claim and an Inquest hearing
A clinical negligence claim is a completely separate claim, to the fact finding exercise of an Inquest hearing. A clinical negligence claim involves quite separate procedures and legal tests.
The verdict of an Inquest hearing is not decisive in a claim of clinical negligence, but it can be very useful in terms of progressing such a claim. For example, the transcript of evidence given at the Inquest hearing, can be admitted as evidence in a later clinical negligence claim.
If you are legally represented at an Inquest hearing, you do not then have to later pursue a clinical negligence claim if you do not wish to do so. Conversely, if you are not represented at an Inquest hearing, that does not prevent you from pursuing a later clinical negligence claim.
If you successfully pursue a clinical negligence claim, the costs of representing you at the Inquest can be reclaimed as part of the costs of the clinical negligence claim itself.
Why should I instruct Withy King?
We have a dedicated, specialist team of solicitors, headed by Paul Rumley, a nationally recognised expert in medical law, who will take you and your family through the Inquest process from the time of notification of the death to the Coroner to representation of you and your family at the Inquest hearing itself.
We have specifically designed a fixed fee package, to give you quality representation with the certainty of a fixed price – for further details please ask us to send you a copy of our Packaged Product: Inquest Representation.
What does this packaged product cover?
The scope of the work under this packaged product is as follows:-
- We will obtain all of the relevant medical records to assist us in preparing for the Inquest hearing – please note that if you are pursuing an associated clinical negligence claim, or decide to do so at a later date, it may be necessary to request additional medical records to assist with that particular claim.
- The medical records will then be filed and paginated, so that a medical records bundle can be provided to both the Coroner and those representing the Hospital/doctor, to ensure that all parties are working from the same set of medical records.
- We will liaise with the Coroner’s office with regard to the practical preparations for the Inquest hearing, including requesting what specific additional witnesses should be called to give evidence at the hearing.
- We will meet with you and any relevant members of your family, to prepare witness statements which will then be provided to the Coroner for him/her to consider which family witnesses should be called to give evidence at the Inquest hearing.
- We will represent you at the Inquest hearing itself, in order to ask questions of the witnesses called to give evidence and to make any legal representations to the Coroner on behalf of you and your family – our role is to assist you and the Coroner in revealing all the relevant facts in this matter, so that the Coroner can reach an appropriate verdict as to the cause of your loved one’s death. Please note that the fee paid only covers a 1-day hearing – any additional days, will incur an additional charge (see below).
What will it cost?
This fixed fee package costs £2,500 plus VAT, that is a total of £2,937.50. As above, this covers our actual representation at a 1-day hearing. Any additional days of representation, including a pre-Inquest hearing and additional days for the Inquest hearing itself, will be charged at an additional rate of £500 plus VAT for each additional day or part of a day.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PURSUING A CLINICAL NEGLIGENCE CLAIM, AND YOU PURCHASE AN ASSOCIATED COMPLETE CLAIM ASSESSMENT PACKAGE FROM US, WE WILL DISCOUNT THE FEE FOR THIS PACKAGED PRODUCT BY £100 TO REFLECT THE SLIGHT OVERLAP IN WORK BETWEEN THE 2 DIFFERENT LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.
For further details, please ask us to send you a copy of our Packaged Product: Inquest Representation.
