ianstone
08-13-2010, 06:53 PM
http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/DrDavidKelly415.jpg Call for a full inquest: nine top doctors say wrist wound was unlikely to have caused David Kelly’s death
Experts want new look at ‘unsafe’ David Kelly death ruling
http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/std/siteimages/eveningstandard/columnists/kiran.randhawa.gif Kiran Randhawa (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-home/columnistarchive/Kiran%20Randhawa-columnist-1408-archive.do)
13.08.10
Some of the country's leading medical experts are today demanding a full inquest into the death of government weapons inspector David Kelly (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/related-8164-david-kelly.do).
Nine top doctors say the official cause of death, that he killed himself by slitting his wrist, is “extremely unlikely”.
In an open letter to ministers, they urge the Government to reopen the investigation. The doctors are experts in the fields of forensic science, intensive care and law, and include Sir Barry Jackson, past president of the British Academy of Forensic Science.
Other signatories include former coroner Michael Powers, a former deputy coroner, Margaret Bloom, and Julian Bion, a professor of intensive care medicine.
Dr Kelly, 59, was found dead in woods near his Oxfordshire (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/related-4714-oxfordshire.do) home in 2003 after he was exposed as the source for a BBC (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/related-319-british-broadcasting-corporation.do) story disclosing anger within the intelligence service over use of Iraq (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/related-701-iraq.do) arms data. The then Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/related-13346-charles-falconer.do), suspended an inquest before a non-statutory public inquiry by Lord Hutton began, and it was never resumed.
Lord Hutton concluded “the principal cause of death was bleeding from incised wounds to his left wrist which Dr Kelly had inflicted on himself with the knife found beside his body”. The law lord added that death had been hastened because Dr Kelly had swallowed an excess of painkillers and had coronary heart disease.
But the signatories of the letter sent to the Times argued that a severed ulnar artery, the wound found to Dr Kelly's wrist, was unlikely to be life-threatening unless an individual had a blood-clotting deficiency.
“Insufficient blood would have been lost to threaten life,” they wrote. “The conclusion that death occurred as a consequence of haemorrhage is unsafe.” The letter is backed by a second one to Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/related-36546-kenneth-clarke.do), signed by Dr Powers, which branded the inquiry “inadequate”, its conclusion “implausible” and said the “widespread belief” in the medical profession was that Dr Kelly's death was not due to haemorrhage.
In January it emerged that Lord Hutton secretly classified all medical and scientific records relating to Dr Kelly for 70 years. The likeliest way that a coroner's inquest could go ahead is if Mr Clarke overturned the gagging order and let the material be seen by another group of doctors, who have campaigned for access to it as part of an ongoing legal action to force an inquest.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “The request for the release of papers is under consideration.”
Experts want new look at ‘unsafe’ David Kelly death ruling
http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/std/siteimages/eveningstandard/columnists/kiran.randhawa.gif Kiran Randhawa (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-home/columnistarchive/Kiran%20Randhawa-columnist-1408-archive.do)
13.08.10
Some of the country's leading medical experts are today demanding a full inquest into the death of government weapons inspector David Kelly (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/related-8164-david-kelly.do).
Nine top doctors say the official cause of death, that he killed himself by slitting his wrist, is “extremely unlikely”.
In an open letter to ministers, they urge the Government to reopen the investigation. The doctors are experts in the fields of forensic science, intensive care and law, and include Sir Barry Jackson, past president of the British Academy of Forensic Science.
Other signatories include former coroner Michael Powers, a former deputy coroner, Margaret Bloom, and Julian Bion, a professor of intensive care medicine.
Dr Kelly, 59, was found dead in woods near his Oxfordshire (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/related-4714-oxfordshire.do) home in 2003 after he was exposed as the source for a BBC (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/related-319-british-broadcasting-corporation.do) story disclosing anger within the intelligence service over use of Iraq (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/related-701-iraq.do) arms data. The then Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/related-13346-charles-falconer.do), suspended an inquest before a non-statutory public inquiry by Lord Hutton began, and it was never resumed.
Lord Hutton concluded “the principal cause of death was bleeding from incised wounds to his left wrist which Dr Kelly had inflicted on himself with the knife found beside his body”. The law lord added that death had been hastened because Dr Kelly had swallowed an excess of painkillers and had coronary heart disease.
But the signatories of the letter sent to the Times argued that a severed ulnar artery, the wound found to Dr Kelly's wrist, was unlikely to be life-threatening unless an individual had a blood-clotting deficiency.
“Insufficient blood would have been lost to threaten life,” they wrote. “The conclusion that death occurred as a consequence of haemorrhage is unsafe.” The letter is backed by a second one to Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/related-36546-kenneth-clarke.do), signed by Dr Powers, which branded the inquiry “inadequate”, its conclusion “implausible” and said the “widespread belief” in the medical profession was that Dr Kelly's death was not due to haemorrhage.
In January it emerged that Lord Hutton secretly classified all medical and scientific records relating to Dr Kelly for 70 years. The likeliest way that a coroner's inquest could go ahead is if Mr Clarke overturned the gagging order and let the material be seen by another group of doctors, who have campaigned for access to it as part of an ongoing legal action to force an inquest.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “The request for the release of papers is under consideration.”