Review of the Coroner Service - The Department of Justice and ...

ISSUES AND RESPONCESRECOMMENDATIONS36. Coroners should not be obliged toview the body of the deceased – thisshould be the duty of the Gardaí,although evidence of viewing can bepresented in documentary form unlesschallenged at an inquest.37. For bodies within the coronersjurisdiction there should be a statutoryrequirement for identification of thebody by an appropriate person. Thecoroner must be satisfied in relation tosuch an identification.38. The current role of the jury in viewingthe body of the deceased should beremoved.39. In circumstances where a coronerpermits a doctor to certify a deatheven when they have not treatedthem within one month of the death,there should be a statutoryrequirement on the doctor to carryout an external examination of thebody.40. A duty should be placed on funeraldirectors to ensure that a certificate ofdeath is procurable or that clearancehas been obtained from the coronerto bury the body. Such clearanceprocedures should be part of theproposed Coroner’s Rules.41. New enforcement powers should begiven to the Gardaí: (a) to enter apremises in which a body lies and tomake investigations in support of thecoroners inquiry; (b)to securepossession of a body where they arebeing prevented from so doing and;(c) to recover possession of a bodywhere it has been removed from amortuary or morgue without thepermission of the coroner.42. The existing legal provisions regardingthe removal of a body from the Stateshould be reworded so as to positivelydirect that no body should beremoved from the State unlessapproval to do so has been obtainedfrom the coroner in whose district itlies.43. A coroner should be empowered torequest an exhumation from theMinister on his own initiative withoutfirst having to be requested to do soby the Gardaí.3.3.5 Post-mortemsDiscretion and obligation to holdUnder existing provisions, a coroner has adiscretion to order a post-mortem where aninquest is to be held but does not have toproceed with the inquest if the post-mortemindicates that the death was due to naturalcauses. There is, however, no statutoryrequirement for a coroner to order a post-mortemeven though he may be of the opinion that adeath was not, in fact, due to natural causes. Itseemed to the Group that there should be such arequirement, given that no natural cause of deathcould be established. The obvious exception tothis rule would be where a body had already beenburied without a post-mortem, and anexhumation was not deemed necessary for theinquest to proceed. Similarly, if the body hasalready been destroyed or irrecoverable, a postmortemcould not be mandatory.In addition, a statutory basis in relation tocircumstances and procedures for the removal,retention and disposition of tissues and organs incoroner directed post-mortems should be set outin Coroner’s Rules.59