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84
The subject of uncertified deaths has, on more than one
occasion, engaged the attention of the Society of Medical
Officers of Health, and in December, 1880, the Society, on
the recommendation of the council, to which the subject had
been referred for consideration, adopted the following
resolution :—
"That all cases of uncertified death should be reported by the local
registrar of births and deaths to the Coroner, who should, when
there is no prima facie ground for holding an inquest, direct such
cases to be investigated by a registered medical practitioner."
It had been suggested that the duty of making the investigation
should devolve on the Medical Officer of Health,
as a part of his ordinary work, but the Society did not adopt
this view.
Of all the unsatisfactory arrangements connected with the
subject of uncertified deaths, perhaps the most indefensible
is the responsibility cast on the Coroner's Officer of making
a preliminary enquiry, and of being the de facto judge in a
doubtful case whether an inquest should be held. The
Society, at my instance, adopted the following further resolution
bearing on the subject,
"That in the opinion of this Society, the present system of investigation
of deaths referred to a Coroner, viz., by an officer having no special
qualification for the discharge of the duty, is unsatisfactory."
INQUESTS.
One hundred and forty-five inquests, 113 in the Town subdistrict,
and 32 in Brompton, were held in the year, the
subjects being males 83, and females 62; 58 were under five
years of age, including 40 less than a year old, and 27 were
persons aged 60 and upwards: the cause of death in 111
instances was ascertained by post-mortem examination.
The Deaths from Violence were 51, of which 13
belong to the Brompton sub-district. The grounds for holding
inquests were, usually, either the suddenness of death,