Reform of death certificate system doesn’t go far enough, says Shipman inquiry judge

More than 10 years after the arrest of Harold Shipman, the GP who killed hundreds of patients, a rogue doctor could still get away with murder, the senior judge who led the inquiry into his crimes has said.

Giving her first interview since the inquiry ended nearly five years ago, Janet Smith told the BBC: “I really was shocked to find how totally our system of death certification is dependent upon the honesty and integrity of a single doctor. Once you realise that you can have a dishonest doctor and a malevolent doctor, then it is obvious that under our system that doctor can get away with …