Fatal attraction

The increase in awards for bereavement is welcome (see [2002] Gazette, 21 March, 5).

However, a more equitable reform would have been to extend the categories of deceased to whom it applies.

A deceased person's life does not cease having a value just because he is older than 18 or unmarried.

It is heartbreaking to have to tell the parents of children older than 18, but who are still students living at home, that all they can recover are funeral expenses.

Can the law not be amended in some way to extend the right of damages for bereavement to the parents of all unmarried children?

Pierre Thomas, Pierre Thomas & Partners, London