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practitioners. Five of the deaths were registered on the information
of midwives, the alleged cause of death being premature birth,
and the ages at death ranging from one day to one week. In
the remaining five cases there had been" no medical attendant,"
and the causes of death, as registered were: apoplexy (in the case
of a merchant, aged 63, who died in a cab); eczema, bronchitis,
convulsions, (daughter of a carpenter, aged 6); premature birth,
(daughter of a labourer, aged 14 hours); convulsions, (son of a
platelayer aged 4 months). The cause of death of the wife of a
labourer, aged 46, which occurred at the Casual Ward, Mary Place,
was not stated.
The subject of uncertified deaths has, on more than one
occasion, engaged the attention of the Society of Medical Officers
of Health, which has 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 proposed
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 that
which practically makes the Coroner's Officer 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 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 sixty-three inquests, 136 in the Town Subdistricts
and 27 in Brompton, were held, irrespective of a few held
on non-parishioners. The subjects were males in 85 cases, and