Influence of Coroners’ Officers and Pathologists on Suicide Verdicts

330 cases of unnatural death, leading to 110 open verdicts, 110 verdicts of suicide and 110 of accident, from the Inner West London Coroner’s District have been examined to see if particular coroner’s officers or pathologists were associated with disproportionate numbers of suicide verdicts. No significant deviations from the expected numbers were found. Coroner’s officers probably share common ideas about the features defining suicide, and so do pathologists.