Coroner rules out inquiry into post mortems
ACORONER has ruled out a public inquiry over ‘concerns’ about a pathologist’s post mortems.
A total of 26 inquests, which have been opened and adjourned, are currently on hold after issues were raised about the quality of post mortems carried out by Dr Khalid Ahmed, who was sacked from his job last month as a consultant histopathologist for Pennine Acute NHS Trust at the Royal Oldham Hospital .
An expert review of his work suggested a ‘cut and paste’ approach had been used in post mortem reports from one patient to another. Coroners often reach verdicts on the causes of death of people based on expert medical evidence presented to them after doctors carry out post mortems, which is private, nonNHS work, done for a set fee of £96.80.
Dr Ahmed carried out 1,351 post mortems for the north Manchester Coroner between January 3, 2007 and May last year. After Dr Ahmed conducted a post mortem on one man, Allan Porter in 2010, his family disputed the findings and got a second opinion which challenged the original findings. The matter then came to the attention of the coroner and hospital authorities in May last year.
Mr Porter is one of 26 deceased, some of whose family and their lawyers had asked North Manchester Coroner Joanne Kearsley to refer the matter to the Secretary of State for a decision on whether all the inquests should be brought under the umbrella of a public inquiry. But following a pre-inquest hearing, Ms Kearsley has now decided not to refer the matter to the Government for a decision.
In a ruling sent to the families and legal representatives, she said questions about the post mortems on their loved ones ‘are capable of adequate exploration’ during an inquest.
Ms Kearsley said as the full inquests had not yet taken place, ‘the evidential picture is evolving.’
She said: “However, at the present time, there is no reliable means of knowing or identifying the level, scale, or, significance of any deficiency in the provision of the pathologist service.”
The ruling says a referral for a public inquiry could be made at a later date after the 26 inquests, ‘by which time, the scale and character of the current concerns may be properly evaluated.’
A review of a sample of 38 of Dr Ahmed’s post mortems by Prof Simon Kim Suvarna, a consultant histopathologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, found some post mortem reports to be ‘inadequate’ and an ‘incorrect’ cause of death given.
Dr Ahmed, who qualified as a doctor in 1989 in Bangalore, India, joined Pennine Acute Trust in October 2006 and in January 2007 started carrying out post mortems for the coroner. This was private work paid for by the coroner and not overseen by the trust.
Dr Ahmed has been approached for comment. His lawyers said he was unable to respond at this stage.