how does any amount of cough medicine, or whatever else, affect the opening of the 'chute????
It doesn't. But it does help the inquiry or inquest build a complete picture of the individual and the organisation. Same with the mobile phone. If there are instances where rules and procedures are not being adhered to it highlights a number of factors;
1. If those rules are pointless, why are they not being challenged and removed?
2. If they are valid, why are they being ignored?
3. How does the command structure view such rules and the somewhat arbitrary nature of compliance?
It's all well and good lining up the holes in the cheese to point out the MoD are crass, negligent, malfeasant and all the other things we know them to be, but that's a two-way street. The unit and the individuals will also come under that spotlight and any examples of non-standard or non-compliant behaviour will be subject to scrutiny, already under the BoI.
As an authorising officer I would ask crews to imagine how any of their actions would look to a subsequent Board of Inquiry before they did them. This is exactly what is happening here, albeit at the inquest. Minor infringements of rules, or the ignoring of rules by those entrusted to apply them, can sometimes be signs of stress, overstretch or command issues, thus they form part of the overall indication of the health of the unit.