Editing Inquests in England and Wales (section)

==Where an inquest is needed==
There is a general duty upon every person to report a [[death]] to the coroner if an inquest is likely to be required. However, this duty is largely unenforceable in practice and the duty falls on the responsible [[Civil registration|registrar]]. The registrar must report a death where:<ref>''Halsbury'' vol.9(2) '''949'''–'''950'''</ref>
*The deceased was not attended by a [[physician|doctor]] during their last illness
*The death occurred within 24 hours of admission to a hospital
*The cause of death has not been certified by a doctor who saw the deceased after death or within the 14 days before death
*The cause of death is unknown
*The registrar believes that the cause of death was unnatural, caused by violence, [[neglect (English law)|neglect]] or [[abortion]] outside the exemptions of the [[Abortion Act 1967]], or occurred in suspicious circumstances
*Death occurred during [[surgery]] of any kind or while under [[anaesthetic]] both local and general
*The cause of death was or was suspected to be an [[industrial disease]]
*The death relates to public health or the general health or welfare of the public-at-large

The coroner must hold an inquest where the death is:<ref name="h939">''Halsbury'' vol. 9(2) '''939'''</ref>
*Violent or unnatural
*Sudden and of unknown cause
*In prison or police custody
*Suspected to be suicide

Where the cause of death is unknown, the coroner may order a [[post mortem]] examination in order to determine whether the death was violent. If the death is found to be non-violent, an inquest is unnecessary.<ref name="h939"/>

In 2004 in England and Wales, there were 514,000 deaths of which 225,500 were referred to the coroner. Of those, 115,800 resulted in post-mortem examinations and there were 28,300 inquests, 570 with a jury.<ref name="dca">{{harvp|Department for Constitutional Affairs|2006}}</ref> In 2014 the [[Royal College of Pathologists]] claimed that up to 10,000 deaths a year recorded as being from natural causes should have been investigated by inquests. They were particularly concerned about people whose death occurred as a result of medical errors. "We believe a medical examiner would have been alerted to [[Stafford Hospital scandal|what was going on in Mid-Staffordshire]] long before this long list of avoidable deaths reached the total it did," said Archie Prentice, the pathologists' president.<ref>{{cite news|title=10,000 deaths a year from natural causes 'need examining by coroners'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/27/pathologists-reforms-death-certificates-medical-examiners|access-date=27 August 2014|work=Guardian|date=27 August 2014}}</ref>