PUBLISHER'S VIEW: (Editorial); Ontario's criminal justice system must look so unfair to former doctor Charles Smith's many victims like Brenda Waudby and Lianne Thibeault and their families. They were arrested on little more than the opinion of the once renowned former doctor Charles Randal Smith and charged with horrific offences relating to the deaths of their beloved children. Smith, who admitted perjury, "lost" important evidence that showed his opinions were wrong, obstructed efforts by defence lawyers to get information to independent experts retained by the defence, and pretending falsely to judges and juries to be experienced in forensic pathology, (he was anything but) was never charged with a single crime. Smith's victims protests of innocence were ignored by the authorities. No consideration for them. Their lives were ruined. Some even had other children taken away from them and put up for adoption. Meanwhile, Smith and his protectors in the Chief Coroner's Office sailed into the sunset. As the Toronto Star's investigations reveal, The College continues to offer deals to doctors who have harmed their patients. Slip away quietly into the night, like Charles Smith was quietly permitted to do from the Hospital for Sick Children as his misdeeds threatened to become public Don't embarrass the medical profession. Don't let other patients of these doctors know that they, too, may have been at risk. Better to let them gently fade away than risk shattering the myth that the medical profession in Ontario is protecting the public - and not just itself. A last thought. The story refers to Smith's "mistakes" in twenty cases. To characterize his acts as "mistakes" is to fall into Smith's dubious defence at the Goudge Inquiry which was peppered ad nauseam with admissions confined to a litany of "errors" and "mistakes" which could have been made by any other pathologist. Not so, Smith's errors and mistakes were directed against people he didn't like - like single mothers, who were unemployed and may have used drugs - and didn't fit into his vision of the Christian family. And his "errors" and "mistakes" were pointed in one direction - helping the police, and making sure that the Crown got a guilty plea or a conviction, so that the person he, Charles Smith had selected for prosecution, would go to jail. "Mistakes" goes nowhere near describing the infamous conduct of the former Doctor Charles Randal Smith.
Harold Levy. Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
STORY: "Doctors who supervised disgraced pathologist Charles Smith never faced disciplinary hearing," by reporter Theresa Boyle, published by the Toronto Star on February 28, 2015;
SUB-HEADING: James Young and Jim Cairns voluntarily resigned in 2009, and the College struck a deal in exchange for dropping a probe.
PHOTO CAPTION: "Brenda Waudby was wrongly implicated her daughter's death by former forensic pathologist Charles Smith."
GIST: "Five years after the College of Physicians and
Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) made controversial deals with two doctors who
played central roles in Ontario’s pediatric forensic pathology fiasco,
victims of miscarriages of justice are still steaming. In 2010, the college entered into undertakings with former chief coroner James Young
and former deputy corner Jim Cairns, agreeing to drop investigations
into them if they promised never to reapply to practise medicine again. Their involvement in the Charles Smith debacle is what brought their careers to an end. Smith, the province’s former pediatric
forensic pathologist, made mistakes in 20 death investigations that led
to people being criminally charged, convicted or otherwise implicated in
the deaths of children. He reported to the coroner’s office. At a 2007-08 public inquiry, Young
and Cairns were castigated for their “woefully inadequate” oversight of
Smith. They shielded him from scrutiny, contributing to massive
failings by the coroner’s office. The CPSO subsequently started an investigation into the pair........Young and Cairns voluntarily resigned from
medicine in 2009 and the following year the college struck the deal with
them, getting them to promise never to return to the practice of
medicine in exchange for dropping its probe. But it wasn’t enough for victims of the tragedy, who feel the pair weren’t held to account. “We were paraded in public through the courts
and through the media. These guys were allowed to quietly go away. How
is that justified?” asks Brenda Waudby, who was wrongly charged with murdering her 21-month-old daughter. Another daughter was removed from the
Peterborough woman’s custody for almost two years. A babysitter
subsequently pleaded guilty to manslaughter. “The college should not be protecting their black sheep to avoid embarrassing the profession,” charges Maurice Gagnon, a Sudbury man who spent his $100,000 retirement fund to clear his daughter’s name. His daughter, Lianne Thibeault, had come under
suspicion for the 1995 death of her 11-month-old son after he struck
his head on a table. Smith wrongly determined the toddler died of
“nonaccidental” blunt-force trauma. A sibling was taken into custody by
child welfare authorities. “They (Young and Cairns) avoided the
humiliation as suffered by their victims. The public is aware of Charles
Smith, but not the roles of Young and Cairns,” Gagnon said."
The entire story can be found at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
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/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com.
Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog
