Meningitis is a dreaded disease often insidious in onset, manifesting in a variety of ways, with a multiplicity of causes, affecting all ages and posing difficulty in its early diagnosis particularly in the young.
The only medical experts that can truly appreciate these difficulties are the hands-on, practising clinicians.
The forensic experts can establish the facts of pathology as shown by post-mortem examination.
They are not in a position to say how easy or difficult it is to come to a clinical diagnosis.
It is obviously easier to diagnose by hindsight and to brandish terms such as “septic screen” to cover a lack of clinical expertise.
It is another matter for a doctor attending a patient to make a timely diagnosis.