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108
The subject of uncertified deaths having some time since
engaged the attention of the Society of Medical Officers of
Health, the following resolution was adopted:—
"That all cases of uncertified deaths should be reported by the local
registrar of births and deaths to the Coroner, who should, when there
is no primd facie ground for holding an inquest, direct such cases to lie
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 uncertified
deaths, the least defensible is that which makes the
Coroner's Officer de facto judge, in a doubtful case, whether an
inquest should be held. The Society, at my instance, adopted the
following 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 fifty-one inquests were held on parishioners:
109 in the Town sub-district, 22 in Brompton, and 20 at outlying
public institutions (hospitals) to which the deceased had been
removed. The subjects were males 91 and females 60; the age,
at death being, under five years, 55, including 38 under one year;
between 5 and 60 years, 69 ; at 60 years and upwards, 27. The
cause of death in 96 cases is stated' to have been ascertained by
post-mortem examination. Several of the subjects of inquestwere
illegitimate children, including six newly born (and presumably
non-parishioners), abandoned in the streets, etc.
The Deaths prom Violence were 74, of which 11 belong
to the Brompton sub-district.
The grounds for holding inquests are, usually, the suddenness
of death, or the fact that death had been caused by violence. In
many cases the Coroner's returns shew that the deceased persons
had been " found dead," in bed or otherwise.