The purpose of an inquest is to determine when, where, how and by what means a person died.

In the absence of full criminal proceedings, and unless otherwise notified, a Coroner should assume that his inquest is the means by which the State will discharge its procedural investigative obligation under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The law requires that every unnatural death be made the subject of an inquest.

What amounts to an unnatural death, can be a matter of dispute.

Where there has been a fatal injury in the course of medical treatment, there should be an inquest.

Although a simple fact finding exercise with a limited objective, the inquest does have advantages for relatives considering a clinical negligence claim. This is because the act which may subsequently be viewed as negligent will be explored by the Coroner though not with the object of attributing fault or blame.

The advantage to the relatives is that the post mortem, collection of evidence and the hearing itself will be paid for out of public funds.

An inquest despite its limitations, can therefore be a useful tool in investigating the possibility of a clinical negligence claim.

It is the duty of every person to give information which may lead to the Coroner having notice of circumstances requiring the holding of an inquest.

Ordinarily this information will come from doctors and relatives.

What constitutes an unnatural death has been a problem for the courts, but the Oxford English Dictionary definition is "at variance with what is natural, usual or to be expected, unusual - strange.

In simple terms, the more unusual or unexpected death as an outcome of treatment appears to be, the more likely it is that it may be viewed as "unnatural".

All relatives can do in this situation is to provide the Coroner with as much information as possible to show that death following medical intervention was out of the ordinary or unexpected.

It is desirable that the family be represented at the inquest so that questions may be put to the medical staff.

Following the inquest it is usually possible to obtain a transcript but a Solicitor or Barrister instructed to attend will also make a note that may be useful in any subsequent claim.

The cost of legal representation may be recovered in a subsequent clinical negligence claim.

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