Ontario launches probe of pathologist's work
Ontario's chief coroner has ordered a formal review of the autopsy work done by a Toronto pathologist, after a search of his office turned up missing evidence in a murder case.
Dr. Barry McLellan said Tuesday that it was the next stage of investigating Dr. Charles Smith, a pathologist at the Hospital for Sick Children who has been criticized for his handling of autopsies in the homicides or suspicious deaths of children.
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Ontario's chief coroner,
Dr. Barry McLellan.
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"There is no plan at this time for Dr. Smith to return to conducting autopsies for our office," McLellan said.
McLellan released the results of an audit that reviewed the hospital's handling of autopsies that Smith had been involved in since 1991.
It was launched after Smith was accused of misplacing evidence that lawyers said could exonerate William Mullins-Johnson, who was convicted of killing his four-year-old niece in 1994.
Missing tissue samples from the 12-year-old case were found on Smith's desk in late May.
The incident raised concerns that evidence from other cases had been lost, but McLellan said the audit "reassured" him that it wasn't the case.
The formal review will examine Smith's work on forensic tissues related to 40 homicides and criminally suspicious deaths.
The chief coroner said he didn't know how many of the people involved in those cases had been convicted and jailed.
The review is largely aimed at restoring public confidence in the system, McLellan said.
Smith performed thousands of autopsies on children and testified at hundreds of trials, helping secure convictions for murder and assault.
However, some legal groups and people affected by his findings have accused him of incompetence.
The recent audit was ordered after lawyers for Mullins-Johnson requested access to tissue samples, which couldn't be found.
In an earlier review of one of Smith's autopsies, Ontario's College of Physicians and Surgeons concluded it was "extremely disturbed by the deficiencies in his approach."
In another case, Louise Reynolds spent three years in custody after being charged with the murder of her seven-year-old daughter.
Smith's autopsy reported the girl had been stabbed 80 times with scissors, but the case collapsed when the wounds were proven to be dog bites.