"Charles Smith did not attend the recent hearing at which his counsel entered a guilty plea to the agreed upon infractions on his behalf. (His Certificate of Registration was immediately revoked); It is therefore quite likely that the 9.00 AM hearing to be held Friday at 9.00 AM at the 3d floor Council Chamber in the the College headquarters in downtown Toronto will be quite short - especially since Smith, once a pillar of Ontario's medical establishment, is now listed on the College site as "address unknown."
HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG;
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario orders a doctor who has been found guilty of misconduct to attend before the discipline panel in order to receive the reprimand personally. Charles Smith did not attend the February 1, 2011 hearing at which his counsel entered a guilty plea to the agreed upon infractions on his behalf. (His Certificate of Registration was immediately revoked); It is therefore quite likely that the 9.00 AM hearing to be held Friday at 9.00 AM at the 3d floor Council Chamber in the the College headquarters in downtown Toronto will be quite short - especially since Smith, once a pillar of Ontario's medical establishment, is now listed on the College site as "address unknown." So it remains to be seen if once again Smith will snub his nose at the body which worked so hard to protect him over the years.
HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG;
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BACKGROUND: The Goudge inquiry focused largely on the flawed work of Charles Smith — formerly the province's chief pediatric pathologist and a self-styled member of the prosecution team — whose "errors" led to innocent people being branded as child murderers. (He has since been thrown out of the medical profession in Ontario);
The 1,000-page report by Justice Stephen Goudge slammed Smith, along with Ontario's former chief coroner and his deputy, for their roles in wrongful prosecutions and asked the province to consider compensation.
The provincial coroner's office found evidence of errors in 20 of 45 autopsies Smith did over a 10-year period starting in the early 1990s. Thirteen resulted in criminal charges.
William Mullins-Johnson, who was among those cases, spent 12 years in prison for the rape and murder of his four-year-old niece, whose death was later attributed to natural causes.
In another case, Smith concluded a mother had stabbed her seven-year-old girl to death when it turned out to have been a dog mauling.
The inquiry heard that Smith's failings included hanging on to crucial evidence, "losing" evidence which showed his opinion was wrong and may have assisted the accused person, mistating evidence, chronic tardiness, and the catastrophic misinterpretation of findings.
The cases, along with other heart-rending stories of wrongful prosecutions based in part on Smith's testimony, also raised a host of issues about the pathology system and the reliance of the courts on expert evidence."
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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
