"IN 1998, CHIASSON WROTE A MEMO TO THEN-CHIEF CORONER DR. JAMES YOUNG EXPRESSING HIS CONCERNS ABOUT JOHNSTON'S COMPETENCE, SAYING PROBLEMS WITH HIS WORK DATED BACK TO 1994 AND JOHNSTON "FLATLY REJECTED" TAKING REMEDIAL COURSES TO UPDATE HIS SKILLS. CHIASSON NEVER RECEIVED A REPLY FROM YOUNG;"
THERESA BOYLE, TORONTO STAR: DECEMBER 12, 2007;
Another disturbing aspect of the can of worms opened up by the Goudge Inquiry is the story of a problem-prone pathologist named Dr. Brian Johnston.
who worked out of Ottawa as a regional director of the Coroner's Office.
(See previous posting: Goudge Inquiry: Can of Worms: Part One; Opposition parties call for review of more than two hundred cases;"
The problems relating to Dr. Johnson came out through the testimony of Dr. David Chiasson, Ontario's former chief forensic pathologist.
The "can of worms" Chiasson's evidence opened is illustrated by a CBC News report published earlier today which began with the lead, "A group of Ottawa lawyers want a review of dozens of suspicious death cases using autopsy evidence from a local pathologist whose work led to a murder charge against an innocent man."
"Mark Ertel, president of the Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa, said Monday that the group wants a "significant independent review" of the work done by Dr. Brian Johnston, who was head of the Eastern Ontario Forensic Pathology Unit until 2007, on "all of his cases," the story continued.
"And when those cases are reviewed then they should be looked into further if it looks like there's any red flags anyplace," Ertel said. "I'll be shocked if there isn't."
Johnston declined a request for an interview with CBC.
Ertel said Johnston's work was "demonstrably inaccurate" in his autopsy on the 1998 death of 40-year-old Marcel Vanasse "and there may be other cases out there."
Michael Burns of Ottawa, then 28, was charged with second-degree murder after Johnston concluded that Vanasse was strangled. The prosecution withdrew the charges after Johnston changed his mind and said Vanasse died of a drug overdose.
Johnston, who was based in Ottawa, was ordered in February 2007 not to do any more autopsies on criminally suspicious cases due to questions about the quality of his work. He was also dismissed from his post as the head of the Eastern Ontario Forensic Pathology Unit.
However, his work again came under scrutiny in December during the Goudge Commission, which is examining the work of another pathologist, Dr. Charles Smith.
At the inquiry, Dr. David Chiasson, the former chief forensic pathologist of Ontario, said there had been concerns about Johnston's competency for years, and presented notes from the mid-1990s that said Johnston made "unwarranted conclusions" and his reports were confusing and poorly organized.
Ottawa defence lawyer Lawrence Greenspon, who represented Burns in a civil case against Johnston that was dismissed in 2003, said the pathologists' decisions are critical to the liberties of other individuals and the cost of their mistakes is too high.
"In this case, Michael Burns spent 3½ months in jail facing … murder charges until Dr. Johnston changed his opinion for the cause of death," said Greenspon.
He added that the level of protection given to pathologists under Ontario law "seriously has to be looked at and changed."
Since Johnston's dismissal, suspicious death cases in Ottawa have been sent to Toronto or Kingston for autopsy.
Ertel said he has been told a new forensic pathology unit will be up and running in Ottawa in the summer, after two new pathologists start work."
For a take on Chiasson's evidence at the inquiry, here is the story filed by my former Toronto Star Colleague Theresa Boyle on Dec. 12, 2007, under the headline,
"Pathologist avoided dismissal for 9 years, inquiry told."
"It took nine years to replace an error-prone practitioner as head forensic pathologist in Eastern Ontario because the issue was put on the backburner, a public inquiry has been told," the story began.
"Dr. Brian Johnston was only recently replaced as Ottawa-based regional director even though his failings were identified in 1998.
"It perhaps just fell through the cracks," Ontario's former chief forensic pathologist, Dr. David Chiasson, admitted yesterday when asked about the delay.
"I guess at some point (there was) frustration about (the) inability to deal with the problem. It was just left there on the backburner," he added.
In 1998, Chiasson wrote a memo to then-chief coroner Dr. Jim Young expressing his concerns about Johnston's competence, saying problems with his work dated back to 1994 and Johnston "flatly rejected" taking remedial courses to update his skills.
Chiasson never received a reply from Young.
Handwritten notes by Chiasson, dated February 1996, detailed some major concerns with Johnston's work.
"Makes unwarranted conclusions," Chiasson wrote, describing Johnston's reports as confusing, poorly organized and repetitious.
"Isolationist attitude," Chiasson continued, adding that Johnston never requested help with cases.
In one case, he wrongly determined that a man had been strangled, documents show, when in fact he died of coronary artery disease, resulting in a false arrest.
It was only in February of this year that Johnston was ordered not to do any more autopsies on criminally suspicious cases.
Chiasson in part blamed the delay on a major shortage of forensic pathologists. "There was just nobody to take up the slack," he said."
One of the common refrains of witnesses from the Chief Coroner's Office at the Goudge Inquiry is that the shortfalls in resources.
This humble Blogster recognizes the the Coroner's system in Ontario has consistently been neglected by successive governments- and that Commissioner Goudge can usefully recommend an infusion of funds along with the necessary overhaul.
But a lack of resources cannot excuse the failure of the Officials entrusted to run the system to act firmly and promptly to protect the public by removing pathologists such as Smith and Johnson from positions where they could do harm as soon as they became aware of their shortcomings.
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
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