CORONERS BILL AND THE TREATMENT OF MESOTHELIOMA PATIENTS

That this House urges the Government to make the passing of the draft Coroners Bill a priority; calls for the needs of the bereaved families to be put at the centre of the coroners' system and for a chief coroner to be able to set national standards; expresses concern at the British Lung Foundation's report An Unnatural Death, which highlights that when a death from mesothelioma occurs outside of the coroner's working hours the bereaved are often visited by uniformed police in a marked police car, sometimes in the middle of the night; and suggests that in cases of mesothelioma, clinicians should follow the guidance jointly published by the British Thoracic Society and the British Lung Foundation which recommends that the inquest procedure should be discussed with the patient and their family at an appropriate time and that information should be collected that may later be helpful to the coroners in their enquiries.