Experts in establishing causes of death said todaythe conclusion that the government scientist Dr David Kelly took his own life was scientifically sound.

The past week has seen a flurry of claims questioning the Hutton inquiry finding that the former weapons inspector killed himself. The scientist was found dead in July 2003, in woods near his Oxfordshire home. He had come under intense pressure after telling a BBC reporter that the government's dossier on the danger posed by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was flawed.

The controversy over his death has re-emerged after doctors and others last week claimed the Hutton inquiry's verdict was "extremely unlikely". Over the weekend, the former Tory leader, Michael Howard, called for a full inquest because of the continuing doubts cast on Hutton's conclusions. No inquest was held after a coroner ruled it was superfluous following the inquiry.

But four experts in forensic pathology told the Guardian that the doubts raised, including those by doctors, were based on partial knowledge or misconceptions.

The Hutton inquiry found that Kelly, 59, died after cutting an artery in his left wrist, had taken an overdose of Coproxamol painkillers and had heart disease which left his coronary arteries "significantly narrowed".

But critics have claimed that bleeding to death after cutting the ulnar artery was unlikely, and that evidence of large-scale blood loss at the scene was absent.

Yesterday, the experts said the concerns raised did not undermine the findings of the Hutton inquiry. Dr Andrew Falzon, a consultant forensic pathologist with the Forensic Science Service, said Kelly's heart disease and overdose meant a smaller loss of blood could kill him than that required to kill a healthy person: "You are going to succumb to a smaller volume of blood loss than if you were a 20-year-old with a healthy heart.

"The heart vessel is already deprived of oxygen because of the blockage of the vessels. With the loss of blood [caused by cutting the ulnar artery], there is less oxygen to the heart. Throw in the toxic level of drug, that makes the heart more sensitive to cardiac arrhythmia [an electrical disturbance] which causes sudden death.

"I'm sure bleeding from the ulnar artery can kill you."

Falzon also said the views of those not trained in forensic pathology, even if they are medically trained, needed to be treated with caution: "People who are not trained to look at causes of death will perceive things differently. It's hard for them to believe certain things can happen."

Professor Peter Vanezis, senior consultant in forensic medicine to the armed forces, said: "These people are more clinicians and are obviously surprised that a person can kill themselves like that."Vanezis also said the lack of large amounts of blood in the wood where Kelly was discovered could also be easily explained: "It was outside, it could have gone into the soil."

Dr Andrew Davison, a forensic pathologist with Cardiff university agreed: "You only have so much blood going around, if you have a heart condition you can't afford to lose as much blood as a healthy person."

Professor Derrick Pounder, head of forensic medicine and forensic pathologist at the university of Dundee said: "It may be that there are several factors in a death. In this case, we know he had taken more than a therapeutic dose of drugs, and that he had some pre-existing heart disease.We have three factors in the death that are known to the public. The cause of death is likely an interplay between the three."

The forensic pathologist who examined Kelly's body, Dr Nicholas Hunt, gave the formal cause of death as: "Haemorrhage due to incised wounds of the left wrist", in conjunction with "Coproxamol ingestion and coronary artery atherosclerosis".

Deborah Coles, of the group Inquest, said there should be a further inquiry into the death because of the continued public concern: "The Hutton inquiry was not as rigorous as an inquest would be in looking at the full circumstances in which Dr Kelly died. There is so much public suspicion and rumour it demonstrates the need for proper public scrutiny of the full circumstances."