Cumbria Solicitor Backs Decision to Consider Legal Aid for Inquests

A Carlisle medical law specialist has welcomed the Justice Secretary’s decision to reconsider legal aid funding for the representation of families at inquests.

Victoria Watson, a Partner in Burnetts’ medical law team, says the current system is unfair and hopes the Coroners and Justice Bill which is being considered by a parliamentary General Committee on today (Tuesday 3rd January) will open the door for more help for the families of clinical negligence victims.

More families than ever are facing the prospect of an inquest as the number of deaths referred to HM Coroner increases year on year. In 2007 there were 343 inquests in Cumbria, 1,101 in Tyne and Wear and 741 in Northumberland.

Victoria said, “Currently legal aid is only available in exceptional circumstances to families who meet very strict eligibility criteria. Even then the funding may not cover all the expert evidence which needs to be gathered following a death. However, healthcare trusts do have publicly-funded legal representation, often with a whole team of solicitors and very often a barrister too. Families are in an extremely unfair position.”

During the Bill’s second reading in the House of Commons last week, Jack Straw MP said he would consider an amendment to help families with costs.

 “At Burnetts, we have seen many cases where families have had to find considerable sums of money to fund their representation at an inquest. These are tragic cases where people have died because of avoidable mistakes made by doctors, nurses or other healthcare workers.  Burnetts is a Legal Aid practice but unfortunately these families are just not able to get financial help with their costs. For some, justice is unaffordable”, said Victoria.

Burnetts has a six-lawyer medico-legal team which specialises in clinical negligence. 

A free guide for families about inquests is available from the medical law section of Burnetts’ website. Burnetts also offers a free initial appointment to families to talk their options if faced with an inquest.

Victoria said, “We think families deserve to be properly advised on their options so we are always prepared to talk through those initial concerns at no cost.”

End

Tuesday 3rd February, 2009

Note to editors:

Inquest statistics taken from Statistics on deaths reported to coroners England and Wales, 2007 - Ministry of Justice Statistics bulletin (re-issued)