Goudge Inquiry: Dr. Albert Lauwer's Wise Words;

In his evidence yesterday, Dr. Albert Lauwers, a former regional supervising coroner who has risen to the rank of deputy chief coroner, offered a few words of wisdom that go to the heart of the Goudge inquiry.

Under questioning by Ms. Suzan Fraser, who represents, Defence for Children International - Canada, Lauwers replied, "You know, Ms. Fraser, in reference to this particular Inquiry, I think one (1) of the lessons that needs to be learned is that experts should not be advocates."

Dr. Lauwers has a point.

One of the allegations commonly made against Dr. Charles Smith is that he acted as an advocate of the police investigating a crime and the crown attornies who were prosecuting it.

Sharon's mother, for example, alleges in a statement of claim containing allegations that have not been proven in court, that Dr. Smith displayed, "a reckless disregard for the truth" and was motivated by "improper purposes" such as, "assisting the police in securing (her) conviction, self-aggrandizement, and to avoid professional embarrassment in having to reverse his prior report."

That danger of pathologists becoming advocates for the agents of the state is clearly not hypothetical.

Indeed, it is raised in a research paper prepared for the Goudge Inquiry by Professor Gary Edmond of the University of New South Wales, which has been posted on the Inquiry's Web-site.

"...Forensic medicine and the forensic sciences seem to have operated outside or at the margins of mainstream biomedical and scientific research," says Edmond in the paper called, "The Role of the Forensic Pathologist as Expert Witness."

"To some extent their operations are a function of the expectations placed upon them by police and investigative agencies, the reluctance of courts to impose more appropriate standards, as well as the types of cases and issues forensic experts are required to investigate," Edmond continues.

"The professional marginalization of forensic science and medicine is also a result of the historical unwillingness of governments to adequately resource and regulate them.

The close relations between forensic scientists, investigators, police, and prosecutors seem to have fostered a range of pro-prosecution orientations and sympathies."

In conjunction with unexplicated judicial confidence, these commitments have contributed to a state of affairs that may be undesirable in a system concerned with truth and justice." How's that for the understatement of the new year?

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;