Dols when someone dies - relaxation of rules
For once, common sense has prevailed and the rules have been relaxed as follows:-
"From Monday 3rd April 2017 coroners will no longer have a statutory duty to undertake an inquest into the death of every person who was subject to Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards authorisation under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
Section 178 of the Policing and Crime Act (2017) comes into effect to amend the Coroners and Justice Act (2009) definition of state detention.
The new definition of state detention is as follows:
‘But a person is not in state detention at any time when he or she is deprived of liberty under s.4 (a)(3) or s.5 or 4B.’
This will mean that coroners will no longer be obliged to hold an inquest just because an individual was subject to a DoLS authorisation at the time of their death.
This new process will not mean an end to all inquests where the deceased was under a DoLS, but it will allow a
reduction of inquests for individuals subject to a DoLS, but whose death was expected and apparently natural. The main driver behind this change was to ensure that families could progress with their grieving and funeral arrangements and to reduce anxiety and distress associated with the coroner’s investigation.
The old law will continue to apply to deaths occurring before 3 April 2017, even if the death is reported to the coroner after this date.
Nevertheless, any death must still be reported to the coroner where the cause of death is unknown or there are concerns that the cause of death was unnatural or violent (including where there is any concern about the care given having contributed to the person’s death), regardless of whether the person was under DoLS or not.
The Managing Authority should still inform the DoLS Office should the relevant person subject to a DoLS authorisation, passes away. "
There's a link here
https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-con...f-liberty-safeguards-3-april-2017-onwards.pdf
If your LO is under a DoLS, it might be worth pointing this out to care home managers.