The second day of David’s inquest started with a discussion about timetabling, continuing from a similar discussion at close of play the day yesterday. The coroner seemed optimistic that he would be able to conclude today.

The coroner explained we’d moved to a bigger court room to enable one of the expert witnesses to join us by remote link [I was relieved as this court room had such mod cons as tables to put my laptop on and power].

There was further housekeeping discussions about gaps in the evidence and how they might be addressed such as the potential for an agreed statement about 30 minute observations, or the lack of them.

The first evidence was the agreed statement of Dr Harish Lad that had been requested of him on Day 1, when Dr Young mentioned he’d had a conversation with him that he had not recorded in his witness statement.

Interested Persons had agreed that they did not need to ask questions of Dr Lad, so his statement was read onto the record by the coroner, who expressed he was very grateful that it had been provided very urgently.

Dr Lad is a Consultant Anaesthetist in Intensive Care at the Hull Royal Infirmary and his statement was dated 7 November 2024.

In it he confirmed his position and his qualifications. He said he had accessed David’s Lorenzo record to prepare this report and aid his recollection, but the majority of statement was from his memory.

He told the court he had recollections of David from brief periods in the past, adding he had never looked after him in a clinical capacity. He said he remembered David was once a patient on Intensive Care having had pneumonia. He said that was the extent of his knowledge about that, confirmed from looking at the Lorenzo record. He had not worked on ICU during David’s admission.

He told the court he also recalled a conversation with Dr Young about a patient who’d been admitted having been found within proximity to a parent who had been deceased for a period of time. He said he remembered that as it was an unusual presentation and history.

He said apart from that he had no further recollection, including in recommending any medical interventions for David. He said he had a chance meeting with Dr Young as they’d been colleagues for many years, but he had no involvement with David during his admission.

He apologised for not being able to recall anything further and offered his condolences to David’s family.