Susan Chan

Susan Chan

Inquests

Susan acts for both families of the deceased and interested parties in inquests, including article 2 ECHR inquests where a fuller investigation by the coroner is justified.

Her experience has included acting for the MOD in numerous inquests involving the deaths of service personnel in Iraq or Afghanistan. Issues explored included “human error” after five servicemen died in Afghanistan when the pilot misjudged the helicopter’s height from the ground whilst flying in the Kandahar desert; the protection granted by helicopter defence systems against Surface-to-Air missiles; the balancing of the need to win “heart and minds” when patrolling in Snatch Land Rover vehicles against the limited protection afforded by such vehicles against Improvised Explosive Devices; the efficiency of night goggles whilst on clandestine reconnaissance missions.

Susan has also represented parties at multiple article 2 ECHR inquests into prison deaths, including an inmate who passed through five different prisons whilst suffering from psychotic depression with psychotic symptoms and many others who were being monitored for risk of self-harm when they took their lives.

More recently, Susan has acted for the family of a young man who died after being restrained by the police, following his suffering an episode of drug-induced delirium and representing a hospital when a young lady died from metabolic acidosis following a paracetomol overdose.