Michael McGimpsey said he will consider initiating an independent probe after meeting the family of Maureen McGinley yesterday.

Mrs McGinley (78) died from pneumonia in Altnagelvin Hospital in January 2007.

A subsequent postmortem noted that her rib cage had suffered multiple breaks after her death.

The hospital denied the fractures were sustained within its premises. A police investigation was carried out but no charges were ever brought.

An inquest has yet to take place.

Members of Mrs McGinley's family travelled to Stormont to present Mr McGimpsey with a petition of more than 14,000 signatures calling for a public inquiry into what happened to her body following her death in Derry and prior to the postmortem in Belfast.

Her son James McGinley said the family needed answers.

He said: "There's definitely been a cover up.

"There are other families out there and we don't want them to go through what we've gone through, it's over a year now since we discovered our mother had 34 broken bones and we don't want another family to go through what we have, it's been very hard."

The minister said he would be consulting with the Northern Ireland Coroner's office about the case and would consider whether a public inquiry was required.

"If I can find the answers that (the family) require I will do that to at least allow them to have closure on this whole episode," he said.

"I am asking questions actively now to see how we can help the family, they are clearly a family that are still grieving, a family that need help and a family that are in a plight that effectively appears to have no end in sight.