STORY: "Alta. officials deny wrongdoing after toddler's death wrongly deemed a suicide," published by the Calgary Herald on April 24, 2012.
GIST: "The child's family is suing the former Calgary pathologist who performed the autopsy, Dr. Michael Belenky, along with Alberta justice and child welfare officials. One of the main allegations in the family's $2-million suit is that Belenky's erroneous finding damaged the family's reputation and the resulting suspicion over the boy's death in 2009 led to authorities placing his stepbrother in foster care for nearly two years. But in a statement of defence filed in Court of Queen's Bench, the defendants are seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed. The defendants counter that officials had reasonable grounds to apprehend the stepbrother, who is now five years old.........A Calgary homicide detective first raised concerns about the case in 2010 after seeing the term "nonaccidental" used in a report written by Belenky, who was assistant chief medical examiner at the time. The investigator requested a meeting with Belenky in August 2010 to discuss the terminology. Toward the end of January 2011, the detective wanted further clarification about the report, but Belenky had left the medical examiner's office earlier that month. Documents obtained by the Calgary Herald show Alberta Justice terminated Belenky's three-year contract on Jan. 11, several months before it was due to expire. In Belenky's absence, another medical examiner looked at the case for homicide investigators and was concerned about the original findings. On Jan. 31, Alberta Justice announced a review of all criminal files handled by Belenky. Authorities overturned Belenky's original finding in the toddler's death and deemed it accidental two months later, concluding the boy probably suffered the fatal head injury falling from a piece of furniture. Authorities returned the stepbrother to his family in March 2011."
THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/iphone/news/national/story.html?id=6512783
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I am monitoring this case. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.
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
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
