Medical‐setting deaths and the coroner: laws, penalties and guidelines

Middleton, Sarah; Buist, Michael

doi:10.5694/mja13.00131

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…A reportable death is one which meets the criteria to be investigated by a coroner as defined under the relevant Coronial Act (1). A coroner must be notified of a reportable death once a person becomes aware that a death is reportable (17). Although there is some variation in the definition of a reportable death between the state and territory legislation, in general terms, a death is reportable under the following circumstances:…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Coronial System and Determining Manner of Death in Australia -An Overview

Phillips

Little

McDougall

et al. 2015

Academic Forensic Pathology

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Death investigation in Australia was initially founded on the British coronial system. Today it continues to operate under a coroner-based service with each of the individual self-governing states and territories responsible for enacting and administering their own coronial legislation. This has led to some variation within Australia; however, there is broad similarity. Deaths reported to the coroner generally include those where the cause is unknown, there are violent/unnatural circumstances, the death is as a result of an anesthetic or medical procedure, the death occurred whilst held in care/custody, or the identity of the deceased is unknown. Coroners are legally qualified individuals who are appointed to administer the Coroners' Act, but have no medical training. They are required to investigate deaths to determine who a deceased person is, as well as, how, when, where and what caused them to die. This is an inquisitorial process with the purpose of determining the circumstances of death to serve the public interest. Their findings are presented in a written report that outlines the circumstances surrounding death in an attempt to indicate whether a death was natural or unnatural (due to external factors), and in the case of unnatural deaths, to outline the intent and external factors that led to death. Hence, the “manner of death” is presented as a narrative within the coroners' findings. The coroners use information obtained during their investigations to make recommendations about public health policy, justice, and the prevention of similar deaths in the future.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Coronial System and Determining Manner of Death in Australia -An Overview

Phillips

Little

McDougall

et al. 2015

Academic Forensic Pathology

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show abstract

“…In the private sector, the physician is personally responsible for any ME if he/she fails to exercise the standard of care and treatment [17]. In the public sector, the most senior physician of the treating team is recognized to be responsible for the ME [18]. However, in this respect, medical constituents have several flaws in many countries, especially in developing regions [17,19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical Interns’ Perceptions about Disclosing Medical Errors

Ebrahimi

Tabei

Kalantari

et al. 2021

Education Research International

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Background. Honest and timely reporting of medical errors is the professional and ethical duty of any physician as it can help the patients and their families to understand the condition and enable the practitioners to prevent the consequences of the error. This study aims to investigate the viewpoints of medical interns regarding medical error disclosure in educational hospitals in Shiraz, Iran. Methods. A researcher-made questionnaire was used for data collection. The survey consisted of questions about the medical error disclosure, the willingness to disclose an error, the interns’ experiences and intentions of reporting the medical error, and two scenarios to assess the students’ response to a medical error. Results. Medical interns believed that a medical error must be reported for the sake of conscience and commitment and prevention of further consequences. The most important cause of not reporting an error was found to be inappropriate communication skills among the students. The results indicated that the willingness to disclose the hypothetical error among females was more than males (R < 0.005), but in practice, there was no difference between males and females (R > 0.005). The willingness to disclose minor and major hypothetical errors had a positive correlation ( P < 0.001 , R = 0.848). Conclusion. More ethical training and education of communication skills would be helpful to persuade physicians to disclose medical errors.

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Legal Medicine in the Administration of Health Care

Wellington¹

2018

Textbook of Medical Administration and Leadership

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Medical‐setting deaths and the coroner: laws, penalties and guidelines

Cited by 6 publications

References 11 publications

The Coronial System and Determining Manner of Death in Australia -An Overview

The Coronial System and Determining Manner of Death in Australia -An Overview

Medical Interns’ Perceptions about Disclosing Medical Errors

Legal Medicine in the Administration of Health Care

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