"A report co-authored in 2006 by Sebastian Lucas, professor of clinical histopathology at King's College London, for the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) found one in four postmortems were of a "poor or unacceptable" standard.
In a third of mortuaries, the study said "the pathologist failed to inspect the body before the anatomical pathology technologist commenced opening it and removed the organs".
The report noted: "The common practice of evisceration of bodies before the pathologist has inspected them may come as a surprise to the public." Another problem, consequently, was the "poor recording of external injuries"."
REPORTER OWEN BOWCOTT: THE GUARDIAN;
REMINDER: EXECUTION BY FIRE; GLOBAL TV; Friday, May 13, 10PM (9PM Manitoba/Sask.)
(In 1991 three little girls died in a fire that gutted their home in a small Texas town. Sympathy turned to rage when their father was charged with murder by arson. After a thirteen-year battle to prove his innocence and despite new evidence casting doubt over the conviction, Cameron Todd Willingham was executed by lethal injection in 2004. Since Willingham’s death, leading fire scientists have challenged the underpinnings of the case, concluding it was an accidental fire. Today, Willingham’s family is still battling to clear his name and for the first time Texas may be forced to admit to executing an innocent man. Another documentary by renowned Canadian journalist Julian Sher. “What can be more crushing than the nightmare of losing your child,” asks Sher. “And then the nightmare gets unimaginably worse when the police accuse you of the murder and you know you’re innocent? These were compelling human dramas and trials that grabbed the headlines. We tried to look at the toll these cases took not only on the accused but also on their families—their loved ones, the other children. It’s also about how communities turn against the guilty suspect in our midst – how we are all guilty of jumping to conclusions.”)
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Charles Smith saga - called by the Globe and Mail a series of earthquakes which exploded under Ontario's criminal justice system - has underlined the enormous harm that can be caused by an incompetent pathologist who is used to investigate criminal cases by the State. One of its lessons is that medical licensing bodies such as the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons in Ontario and the British Medical Council must scrutinize allegations made against such pathologists extremely carefully and hold them strictly to account where misconduct is found - that's what protecting the public is all about.
HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG;
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"Rarely can a profession have been so over-glamorised and under-funded. In their pure white lab coats, forensic pathologists are portrayed in TV murder thrillers as the epitome of cool-minded, painstaking scientists," the Guardian story by reporter Owen Bowcott on May 3, 2011 under the heading, "Ian Tomlinson inquest: Pathology - it's nothing like CSI: Profession is under-funded and lack of auditing means there is no incentive to improve techniques, says author of critical report."
"Dr Freddy Patel fell ignominiously short of the heroic ideal. He was first disciplined by the General Medical Council nine years ago, lied on his CV and demonstrated an extraordinary willingness to attribute death to heart attacks and natural causes, even when victims were scarred with other injuries," the story continues.
Nor is there much financial or administrative incentive to improve performance, according to critics. Routine, section 19 (of the 1988 Coroners' Act) postmortems are paid at a rate of £96.80 each. Patel, like many pathologists, was not salaried but survived on piece work.
"His readiness to be on call and available to coroners throughout weekends may have been dictated by a need to earn a living by doing as many autopsies as possible. Despite his shortcomings, a significant number of coroners carried on commissioning him.
A report co-authored in 2006 by Sebastian Lucas, professor of clinical histopathology at King's College London, for the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) found one in four postmortems were of a "poor or unacceptable" standard.
In a third of mortuaries, the study said "the pathologist failed to inspect the body before the anatomical pathology technologist commenced opening it and removed the organs".
The report noted: "The common practice of evisceration of bodies before the pathologist has inspected them may come as a surprise to the public." Another problem, consequently, was the "poor recording of external injuries".
"You need to ask: 'What is the purpose of non-suspicious postmortems?'" said Lucas,who gave evidence against Patel during a GMC hearing.
"One of the main purposes is to enable a coroner to avoid holding an inquest. If you can find a natural cause of death, that saves all [the extra costs]. The public expect CSI [the US crime scene investigation drama] but it's nothing like that."
With 121,000 postmortems a year, the study found there was a "trend to reduce histopathological examination" due to a desire to save money and a "lack of need if an acceptable registerable medical cause of death can be stated, even if it is not the most accurate cause of death".
Little appears to have changed since that scathing report. Lucas believes that introducing auditing of pathologists' performances - as happens in other branches of medicine - would encourage them to improve techniques."
The story can be found at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/may/03/ian-tomlinson-inquest-pathologists
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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://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
