PAUL SHRODE: DISGRACED FORMER TEXAS MEDICAL EXAMINER CLEARED BY MEDICAL BOARD; NEWSCHANNEL 10; MENTIONED IN "THE CHILD CASES";

"Here's what the complainant says the board sent him explaining their decision:

"The investigation has been dismissed because the Board determined that there was insufficient evidence to prove that any violations of Medical Practice Act occurred. Specifically, the Board found there was sufficient proof that Dr. Shrode was qualified for the position of medical examiner.""

NEWSCHANNEL10;

A GUIDE TO NPR/FRONTLINE/PROPUBLICA'S "THE CHILD CASES."

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/06/child-cases-guilty-until-proven.html

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"AMARILLO, TEXAS - The Texas Medical Board has decided not to take disciplinary action against a disgraced former High Plains medical examiner," the Newschannel10 story published on June 28, 2010 under the heading, "Medical Board clears former Medical Examiner," begins.

"The person who filed the original complaint against Doctor Paul Shrode says he's told the medical board has concluded their investigation and found no wrong doing," the story continues.

"This comes after one woman walked free of murder charges and another person had their murder sentence reduced because Shorde's evidence was ruled "not scientifically supported."

Here's what the complainant says the board sent him explaining their decision:

"The investigation has been dismissed because the Board determined that there was insufficient evidence to prove that any violations of Medical Practice Act occurred. Specifically, the Board found there was sufficient proof that Dr. Shrode was qualified for the position of medical examiner."

Dr. Shrode was the medical examiner in one of the cases featured by the NPR/Frontline/Propublica :Child Cases" investigation. A portion of the transcript reads as follows:

A.C. THOMPSON, Correspondent, ProPublica: [voice-over] After combing through court records, FRONTLINE, ProPublica and NPR found nearly two dozen cases in the U.S. and Canada in which people were prosecuted for killing children based on questionable autopsies and testimony. All of them were eventually cleared of wrongdoing.

We found one of these cases just a day's drive from Ernie Lopez, in El Paso. Monea Tyson spent nearly two years in lockdown in the county jail before being acquitted of the murder of her 2-year-old son, Jayceon.

MONEA TYSON: That last thing I seen was my son not breathing, you know, and I seen his face turning pale and everything.

A.C. THOMPSON: The case was based largely on the findings of the medical examiner.

MONEA TYSON: It was kind of hard to comprehend that somebody would charge you with something like that. I knew me and I knew what I didn't do, and was hard to go through that.

A.C. THOMPSON: The autopsy on Tyson's infant son was performed by Dr. Paul Shrode. He found the case a homicide, based on blunt force trauma to the head. But that's not what the forensic pathologist for the defense found.

LEONARD MORALES, Defense Attorney: Looking at the kind of force you need to create that kind of injury to the brain, there was no skull fracture. There was no other injury to the brain in any other location. So it seemed to her that the injury described as blunt force trauma really didn't exist.

A.C. THOMPSON: In the end, the defense expert argued Jayceon died of an infection. She also testified that some of the bruises Dr. Shrode saw as signs of abuse were likely birthmarks. The defense attorneys made a point of Dr. Shrode's lack of board certification, and challenged his truthfulness.

LEONARD MORALES: He had falsified his resume, in the first place. We had also discovered that he was involved in another capital case where a man was apparently on death row due in large part to Doctor Shrode's testimony and his findings in another autopsy, which were apparently debunked, unfounded.

A.C. THOMPSON: Dr. Shrode declined our repeated requests for an interview.

Dr. JON THOGMARTIN: Anybody who's doing an autopsy on a kid that's not board-certified in the field, they should be blown out of the water. I don't know how they make it when they're not. Anyone who's not consulting the specialists, not getting the medical records, I don't see how they make it on a day-to-day basis. I don't see how they're not run out of town on a rail.

A.C. THOMPSON: Dr. Shrode's background came under review by the county commissioners. They fired him just months before Monea Tyson's trial but did not specify why.

NEWSCASTER: Only KFOX cameras were rolling as Monea Tyson heard the words, "Not guilty."

LEONARD MORALES: At the end of this trial, the jurors asked to see Monea Tyson. In all the years that I've been doing this, I've heard of that before. The jurors hugged her. They cried with her. They asked her when she was going to see her kids again.

The Newschannel10story can be found at:

http://www.newschannel10.com/story/14994067/me

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 found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;