AUGUST 30, 2006
VOLUME 3 NO. 14

PATIENTS & PRACTICE

More woe for embattled pathologist

SK lays charges for lies as ON reviews forensic work


The pathologist at the centre of a high-profile investigation into child autopsies is in trouble again. Dr Charles Smith has been charged by Saskatchewan's College of Physicians and Surgeons with lying about his past.

Dr Smith, already under review in Ontario for inconsistencies in his pediatric forensics work, is accused of providing inaccurate or misleading information in his application to practise in Saskatchewan last year. The charge is likely to stop him working elsewhere in Canada, said Bryan Salte, the College's associate registrar and lawyer.

Mr Salte said applicants are required to disclose if they have ever "been the subject of an inquiry or investigation by a medical licensing authority or hospital... or had any disciplinary action taken" against them during their practising career. Dr Smith was a pediatric pathologist at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children until concerns were raised in 2002 and 2003 about the validity of his findings. Forty homicide and criminally suspicious autopsies performed by Dr Smith between 1991 and 2003 are now being investigated by the Ontario Chief Coroner's Office to determine "whether the conclusions reached by Dr Smith can be supported by the information and materials available."

In one of the most high-profile of those cases William Mullins-Johnson, of Sault Ste Marie, spent 12 years in prison for the rape and murder of his four-year-old niece. But a 2005 review of the case disagreed with Dr Smith's findings. Another pathologist, Dr Michael Pollanen, concluded the girl was never sexually assaulted and probably died of natural causes. Mr Mullins-Johnson was released on bail last September.

At around the same time, Dr Smith was granted a temporary licence to practise in Saskatchewan. But after an Ontario resident informed the Saskatchewan licensing body of the investigation, Dr Smith was dismissed from Saskatoon City Hospital.

A hearing date has not yet been set for the current charges. If found guilty, Dr Smith would at most suffer a fine imposed by the Saskatchewan disciplinary council.

Dr Smith's work in Saskatchewan is not being questioned — only his omission of information. "There's nothing I have seen that would raise questions about his practice of medicine while he was in Saskatchewan," said Mr Salte.

Until Saskatchewan's charges against Dr Smith are resolved, his certificate of standing from that province will report the case to any other provincial medical licensing authority to which he applies, which will likely make it impossible for him to be granted a licence for the time being.

There have been two cases of doctors being disciplined in Saskatchewan in recent years for providing inaccurate or misleading information about their backgrounds, said Mr Salte. In both cases, the doctors failed to fully report their past investigations or suspension, one in an application to the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the other to that of Saskatchewan. Both were disciplined.

 

 

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