Inquests

Alex has a busy inquest practice and an excellent reputation in this area. He routinely acts for families, doctors, corporate entities, and other interested persons at pre-inquest review hearings and at inquests. He is often instructed to conduct the civil proceedings (personal injury and/or clinical negligence) that may follow.

Alex has experience at a wide range of inquests involving deaths in primary and secondary care, deaths of vulnerable adults, and children, deaths of those detained under mental health legislation, deaths in custody, accidents at work and road traffic accidents.

Examples of recent work include: –

• Advising and representing the family at a three-day inquest into the death of a woman following a septic miscarriage. The coroner agreed to make a finding that the death was contributed to by neglect. The civil claim is ongoing.
• Advising and representing the family at a three-day inquest into the death of a man who died due to complications arising out of surgery in hospital. The civil claim was compromised for a six-figure sum.
• Advising and representing the family at an inquest into the death of a nine-month-old baby boy who died of acute bacterial meningitis, which had been missed at the hospital. The coroner agreed that the death was preventable. The matter received national media attention. The civil claim was compromised.
• Advising and representing the ambulance services at a five-day inquest into the death of a 9-year-old boy following a missed diagnosis of appendicitis. The matter received national media attention.
• Advising and representing a GP at a two-day inquest following a care home death.
• Advising and representing a GP at a multi-day inquest into the death of an 11-month-old baby boy who had been thrown into a river by his father, who was experiencing a relapse in his psychosis.
• Advising and representing the prison healthcare services in ongoing coronial proceedings arising from the death of a prisoner by hanging.
• Advising and representing the family at a three-day jury inquest into the death of a man who was run over and killed by a vehicle that was being pursued by the police.
• Advising and representing the family at an inquest into the death of a woman who died following surgery at a hospital. The civil claim was compromised.
• Advising and representing the family at a three-day jury inquest into the death of a man who was killed in an accident at work. The evidence was complex, and the coroner issued a Prevention of Future Deaths report due to concerns over the lack of guidance, by the HSE or any other body, on air suspension in wagons. The civil claim was compromised.
• Advising and representing the family at a three-day inquest into the death of a woman who had died from sepsis due to a leg ulcer, having cut her leg on a car door. The civil claim was compromised.
• Advising and representing the family at an inquest into the death of a man who was killed in cycling accident, after his road bike entered an enormous crack defect in the carriageway, causing him to be thrown to the ground. The coroner issued a Prevention of Future Deaths report due to concerns over the local authority’s system of inspection. The matter received local media attention. The civil claim is ongoing.
• Advising and representing the local authority at a three-day Article 2 inquest into the suicide of a woman who had been detained under mental health legislation.
• Advising and representing the local authority at a five-day inquest into the death of a care home resident who had absconded.
• Advising and representing the family at a two-day Article 2 inquest into the death of a woman who died following a number of unwitnessed falls in hospital.