§ Mr. Lathamasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) whether he will open immediate discussions with the Warwickshire area health authority, in the light of the case of the late Mrs. Edith Moore Maurice, regarding its procedures for completing post mortem reports and liaising with the office of the coroner; and whether he will make a statement;
(2) whether he will examine forthwith the circumstances in which the body of Mrs. Edith Moore Maurice, who died in a nursing home in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on 16 June, aged 87, and who was the mother of Captain Edward Cazenove, of Great Dalby, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, has not yet been delivered to her family for the funeral; and whether he will instruct the Warwickshire area health authority to release the body at once and save the family from further distress.
§ Mr. RaisonI have been asked to reply.
This is a case in which the death was reported to the coroner, who called in a Home Office pathologist, employed by Birmingham university, to make a post mortem examination, partly because the result of certain tests carried out at two forensic science laboratories was awaited and partly because of pressure of work the pathologist's report was not available to the coroner until 23 July. I understand that the coroner directed that Mrs. Maurice's body should be released for funeral purposes the same day. The decision when to release the body is necessarily one which the coroner alone can take in the light of all the circumstances. Before he does so 761W he requires to be satisfied that no further examination of the body will be necessary. I should like to express my sympathy with the family over the distress they were caused while awaiting the completion of the coroner's action.