For this purpose, we have scrutinised case records of births from 1990 to 2005 in Sweden filed by the PAC because of suspected malpractice with the aim of increasing our knowledge and awareness of possible causes of severe asphyxia.
From the outset relations between the police and the CPS were cool, and the need for the lawyers to scrutinise cases before deciding on a charge inevitably led to a proliferation of paperwork.
It was therefore deemed necessary to scrutinise cases diagnosed with for example seborrhoea, alopecia and immune-related skin diseases.
For the remaining unmatched cases, information on follow-up was collected by visiting the various hospitals to scrutinise case records, and by making enquiries of treating physicians and general practitioners.
The research scrutinised the cases of more than 1,600 people, 749 of whom were cancer-free at the time of the study, with no diagnosis, and 878 of whom had been newly diagnosed with a disease.
Lawyers scrutinising these cases must work out what other evidence was presented in court; if they hinged on flawed hair testimony, retrials and exonerations may follow.
On scrutinising our cases of severe asphyxia in connection with delivery, we conclude that fetal surveillance and attention to signs of asphyxia must be improved.
The incidence of diabetes at first admission, and the emergence of cases within 3, 5 and 6 years of first admission, was determined by scrutinising the case notes in the first instance.
Although the study is not as numerically large as some others, its major strength is that all admissions were captured and each case scrutinised by a nephrologist making it unlikely that any cases were missed, as can occur when relying only on electronic records as other larger studies have done [ 8, 20, 32].
In addition, I will be asking the force to bring a report to my public board meeting so that my board and I can scrutinise the case in detail and hold the police to account.
