The Coroners and Justice Bill was published on 15th January. The inquest system is utterly archaic and it needs dramatic changes; such as making sure there’s consistency of approach in England and Wales, tackling time delays in the inquest system (it is shocking how long people have to wait to find out how a loved one died!), providing better information to bereaved people, record and monitor inquest findings, and that action is taken regarding recommendations.
But……NL are trying to bring back ‘secret inquests’ which they originally ditched from the Counter Terrorism Bill. So it seems that they went to resurrect proposals of allowing inquests of ‘national security’ to be held in private. And it’s these situations where you want as much transparency, accountability and democracy…instead of state secrecy.
Like I said, the inquest system is problematic, inconsistent and unjust. Deaths in police custody or prison, the coroner is under a legal obligation to investigate fully in a presence of a jury. Not so if you die in a psychiatric hospital. Coroners can decide themselves what is to be investigated or not. Around 340 people died in 2007 while under a section of the Mental Health Act (and some aren’t even reported).
Over the years I have known of people who have died in the psychiatric system while on a section. Some were investigated. There have been inquests (and that’s an uphill struggle for grief stricken people). There was an inquest into the death of a friend of mine who died while in the psychiatric system but that was just one cover-up. No proper investigation, just going along with the formalities. She never got justice and countless people who die in the psychiatric system don’t either.
In saying that, there is some good news, a recent landmark judgement (Savage (Respondent) v South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (Appellant) where the House of Lords declared that health authorities have a duty of care to people sectioned under the Mental Health Act:
Summary
- Mentally ill patients like prisoners are a particularly vulnerable group, deserving of protection.
- They present a heightened risk of suicide, against which the Health Authority needs to put in place measures to minimise such risks.
- A failure to do so could result in a breach of Art 2 of the ECHR.
If someone dies in the ‘care of the state’ including compulsorily detained in the psychiatric system then surely it has to be properly investigated?
