Dr. Charles Randal Smith: A Disaster Waiting to Happen;

"THE EVENTS SET OUT IN THE OVERVIEW REPORTS ARE THE PREDICTABLE OUTCOME OF THE HISTORY OF FORENSIC PATHOLOGY IN CANADA";

DR. MICHAEL POLLANEN;

An earlier posting featured evidence from an independent forensic pathologist that Dr. Charles Smith was ignorant to the extent that he did not correctly understand "rigor mortis" -an extremely basic concept of forensic pathology. (See previous posting: A Glimmer of Understanding: Part One);

At the same time, however, he was holding himself out as a skilled forensic pathologist - both inside and outside of the courts.

How could he get away with this?

A possible answer is provided by Dr. Michael Pollanen, Ontario's Chief Coroner, in his evidence to the Goudge Inquiry.

"Canadian forensic pathology has been neglected for decades," Dr. Pollanen wrote in a paper he prepared for the Goudge Inquiry.

"The events set out in "overview reports" (reports prepared by Commission staff on the Smith cases being probed by the Inquiry) "are the predictable outcome of the history of forensic pathology in Canada."

If Charles Smith was not a surgeon he would not have been permitted to holds himself out as having a surgeon's skills - or testifying to that effect in court - he could have been prosecuted in Ontario for professional misconduct.

However, as Canada lacked a certification process for forensic pathology in Canada, Dr. Smith could safely transform himself into the learned Dr. Charles Randal Smith who was respected throughout the world as an expert in his field without fearing professional consequences.

Dr. Pollanen makes several other observations that are relevant to Dr. Smith in his paper.

One is that, "the lack of domestic postgraduate training programs has encouraged the rise of "self-taught" and "part-time" pathologists rather than full-time forensic experts."

Another is that in Canada there has been, "a failure to develop guidelines, standards, and a code of practice for forensic pathology."

These gaps in Canadian forensic pathology do not get Dr. Smith off the hook;

In this Bloggist's humble view, it was this very vagueness that allowed Dr. Smith to flourish with minimal accountability.

The only safe-guards lay in the hope that the Hospital for Sick Children, The Chief Coroner's Office and the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons would keep Dr. Smith in line and protect the public.

Sadly, that didn't happen.

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;