"I have not been able to find steady work. I am living below the standard of living.
I never had the opportunity to further my education and have no idea of what I could have become.
My family has also suffered. My parents were the ones to discover me and my brother and sister were too young to deal with this tragedy."
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT: CM;
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BACKGROUND: On February 1, 2011, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario found that Charles Smith had committed acts of professional misconduct and that he was incompetent. Before striking him from the College Register, the College received six victim impact statements which are being published in their entirety on this Blog over a series of posts. These statements provide extraordinary insight into the harm caused to the victims by Smith, his protectors in the Chief Coroner's office, the College, the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and all of the other individuals and institutions who failed to stop Smith when they had a chance.
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BACKGROUND OF THE CASE: A manslaughter charge was dropped in December 2010 in an Oshawa, Ont., court against a woman known as C.M., who said she had no choice but to plead guilty at her original trial to killing her baby based on Smith's faulty findings. Ontario's top court quashed her conviction in October and ordered a new trial. C.M.'s lawyer has described her as a frightened young woman who didn't know she was pregnant when she gave birth in the bathroom of her home in 1992. C.M. maintained the baby was stillborn, but said it "seemed like the only thing to do was to plead guilty" due to Smith's stellar reputation at the time as a pediatric forensic pathologist. Information from the Canadian Press.
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VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT; CM;
"Being wrongly convicted of a crime has been very difficult for me. I have suffered from almost 20 years of depression," the statement begins.
"I have not been able to find steady work. I am living below the standard of living," it continues.
"I never had the opportunity to further my education and have no idea of what I could have become.
My family has also suffered, My parents were the ones to discover me and my brother and sister were too young to deal with this tragedy.
I am happy that my conviction was absolved and I look forward to the future."
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-feature-cases-issues-and_15.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com
