Case Study: Duties To Notify Under The Notification Of Deaths Regulations 2019

• Published date: 04 November 2020
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Trials & Appeals & Compensation, Professional Negligence
• Law Firm: Hill Dickinson
• Author: Leila Souss and Leah Selkirk

If a death is reported to the coroner, or indeed not reported to a coroner, and subsequent medical evidence (perhaps years later) suggests there was negligence, what are the obligations on the trust in terms of going back to/to the coroner?

Duties to notify under the Notification of Deaths Regulation 2019

The Notification of Deaths Regulations 2019 came into force on 1 October 2019, placing new duties on registered medical practitioners. The Regulations impose a duty on registered medical practitioners to notify a senior coroner of a person's death under specific circumstances.

The Regulations state that there is a duty to notify a relevant senior coroner of a death in certain circumstances if the registered medical practitioner comes to know of the death on or after the coming into force of the regulations and at least one of the circumstances described in regulation 3(1) applies. It states that the duty does not apply if the medical practitioner reasonably believes that the relevant senior coroner has already been notified of the death under these Regulations.

There are specific circumstances listed in regulation 3(1), which will give rise to the duty. The circumstances in which the duty to notify arises include:

• where the death was due to poisoning, including by an otherwise benign substance;
• where the death was due to exposure to or contact with a toxic substance;
• where the death was due to the use of a medicinal product controlled drug or psychoactive substance;
• where the death was due to violence, trauma or injury;
• where the death was due to self-harm;
• where the death was due to neglect, including self-neglect;
• where the death was due to a person undergoing any treatment or procedure of a medical or similar...