The Doubt's
Following the judgement on March 26, 2004 in the High Court in London by the Honourable Justice Gage that hospital post mortems are illegal, I went to the High Court website and read some of his judgment on there.
Although I have at this time done no further checking but will do so, I got the impression that if a person dies after an operation has been performed, then the Coroner must be informed and any further action on the body is at the Coroner's discretion.
If this is the case, then why was not the Coroner informed about Brendan's death as I believed that he had undergone a major operation to correct an intestinal problem.
Following my meeting with the surgeon and anaesthetist who explained to me that Brendan's intestine was on the outside of his abdomen and that there was no room to put this organ back inside his body, I assumed that this operation had been carried out when I was elsewhere and if I remember correctly was to be performed that afternoon.. Nobody as far as I can remember, ACTUALLY told me that the operation had been carried out!
As Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust are unable to find any records of my son having an operation, did he have one?
On my wife's medical records at the time of Brendan's birth, it can be seen that Brendan was born with a 'large exomphalos' and on his death certificate it states his cause of death as 'La Exomphalos'
Whilst setting up this website and reading every document, newspaper etc. that is in my possession at the same time, unlike previously, years apart, and now getting a greater understanding of everything, I was pointed by my daughter in the direction of a website called "GEEPS" that explains the condition's know as 'Gastroschisis', 'Exomphalos' and 'Extrophies' and the differences between them.
The description and method of rectifying Brendan's problem by the doctors to me, seem to relate to him suffering from Gastrschisis which can be rectified by an operation, at least today it can. The description of Gastroschisis on the 'Geeps' website, matches the description that I was originally told by the doctors who were performing the operation.
Exomphalos on the other hand is a opening in the abdomen where some or all of the internal organs are only covered by a membrane and the treatment, does not, as far as the very little I know, resort to an operation that was described to me by the doctors. In fact the treatment is totally different from Gastroschisis.
Visit the 
(click link) website for a much fuller and more informative description of
these ailments, the treatments and more.
So my doubt's
(1) Did my son have an operation as there are no hospital documents or records saying so.
(2) What condition did my son have, Gastroschisis or Exomphalos and was the correct treatment given too him at that time, ie. did he have the correct operation, if he was operated on at all?
(3) If he died after an operation, should the Coroner have been informed or was there another cover up!?
Note for (3). After contacting and speaking to the local coroner, I was told that if the doctors were certain of the cause of death even after an operation, the coroner does not necessarily have to be informed.