Compensation

In their presentations to this Inquest, counsel for some of the families have asked me to make a recommendation as to whether or not the families are entitled to financial compensation for the deaths of their children. It should be clear to any reader of this report that families did not always receive all the information that should have been provided to them and that their children's care did not at all times meet an acceptable standard. I have made numerous recommendations based on these findings.

However, I have concluded that I am unable to make any recommendation regarding such compensation. As noted in Chapter One of this report, an Inquest cannot make findings of culpability. For me to make a recommendation as to the question of financial compensation for the death of a person who is the subject of the Inquest would likely contravene my obligation not to make a finding of culpability. Secondly, it would appear that the families that have asked for compensation have already started civil proceedings. The question of their entitlement to compensation is best determined in accordance with the rules and laws applicable in those proceedings.