Ken,
Subject access is a personal right to the individual and concerns
information that identifies living individuals (s7 & s1 DPA 1998)so your
collegue's request for information concerning his wife would not appear to
fall within the ambit of DPA 98.
The law relating to inquests is found in the 1998 Coroners' Act 1988 and
Coroners' Rules 1994. Purpose of an inquest is to confirm the identity of
the deceased and determine when and where they died and in what
circumstances.
An inquest is usually opened shortly after the death and then adjourned
while the Coroner conducts inquiries. Sometimes there may be a pre-inquest
hearing that considers matters such as which witnesses to call and how
long the inquest is likely to take. It may be that in your colleague's
case this has not yet occured but as an interested party I would expect
him to be able to attend this.
The Coroner must supply interested persons with a copy of the post-mortem
report and any documents put in evidence at the inquest, but these
documents only have to be disclosed at the inquest. In practice though
most Coroners will release the post-mortem report and witness statements
to the deceased's legal representative in advance of the inquest.
The deceased's medical records may be obtained under 1990 Access to Health
Records Act. Where a civil case is pending application can be made to the
Courts for disclosure of documents under the normal disclosure rules.
I hope this helps.
Kevin Broadfoot
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