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128
On the other hand, there are objections to the
present system. The Coroner's Officer in some districts
does not see the deceased, and knowing neither more
nor less of the symptons and causes of disease than
his informants, he accepts what he is told, and his
judgment is likely to be as inaccurate as it is hasty.
Moreover, both he and his informants, must often err
in regarding as the disease itself what may be after
all only a prominent symptom.
The Coroner, moreover, knowing that his officer
is ignorant of the nature of disease, and in too many
instances not being a medical man himself, does not
entirely rely upon the report, and feels bound in
many cases to hold inquests which would not have
been necessary had the previous inquiry been made by
a medical man.
It has been alleged that at present the Coroner
gets more information from his own officer in a case of
uncertified death, than from the medical man, but this
is simply because the medical man does not consider
himself authorized to make any enquiry. When he
has been called to a case of sudden death, or to a
person found dead, he notifies the fact to the Coroner,
and at the same time informs him that he is unable
to give a certificate of the cause of death; and there
his duty ceases.
it cannot be seriously contended that if a medical
man were charged with the duty of investigating