Pathology problems may stretch back over 25 years

A public inquiry heard Wednesday that problems involving the work of discredited pathologist Dr. Charles Smith could go back as far as 1981.
 
A review of child deaths he handled turned up an additional 13 cases that occurred between 1986 and 1991, although it remains unclear how many of those resulted in criminal convictions.
  
The Goudge inquiry was prompted by a review of 45 cases Smith handled between 1991 and 2001 which led to criminal proceedings in 20.
  
Ontario's chief forensic pathologist, Dr. Michael Pollanen, said the earlier cases were brought to his attention during the review — and those are now being looked at as well.
  
In a memo written earlier this year, Pollanen wrote that "some adverse inferences" could be drawn against Smith in "many" of the earlier cases.

On Tuesday, the inquiry was told Smith was still performing autopsies for Ontario's chief coroner one year after he himself asked to be excused from those duties amid growing concerns about the quality of his work.
  
Smith, at one time a leading pediatric forensic expert in Canada whose work since has been shrouded in controversy, wrote a letter to then-chief coroner Dr. James Young in 2001 asking to be excused from coroner's autopsies. Smith was director of the Ontario pediatric forensic pathology unit at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children at the time.
  
His letter, which also asked Young to arrange an external review of Smith's work, was dated Jan. 25, 2001 — the same day second-degree murder charges were dropped against Louise Reynolds, who was accused in the 1997 death of her seven-year-old daughter.
  
Smith's examination concluded that Reynolds stabbed her daughter Sharon 80 times with a pair of scissors. The charges were later withdrawn after other pathologists concluded the girl had been mauled by a dog.
  
One year later, in 2002, Smith still was performing autopsies — but not in homicide or "criminally suspicious" cases, former Ontario chief coroner Dr. Barry McLellan said Tuesday.
  
However, Smith did work in one "criminally suspicious" case of a child death involving dehydration around September 2002, McLellan said.
  
"The autopsy was done under circumstances where, as I understand it, another pediatric pathologist could not be found at the time," said McLellan, who was a senior regional supervisor at the coroner's office at the time of Smith's letter and reviewed three of Smith's cases.
  
"It was felt appropriate after that the case be reviewed and I assisted with identifying someone to review the case and, at my request, the case was reviewed."
  
However, that case was not among 20 of the 45 child death cases Smith had handled since 1991 which came under question by an international panel of experts. Of those 20 cases, 12 resulted in criminal convictions, while one ended with a finding of not criminally responsible.
  
The panel's findings, which raised serious doubts about Smith's work, prompted the province to call a public inquiry to examine the role played by pediatric forensic pathology in the criminal justice system since 1981.
  
It was not immediately clear at Tuesday's hearing why Smith continued to perform autopsies — even those in cases not classified as "criminally suspicious." However, Young didn't proceed with an internal review after the charges against Reynolds were dropped due to legal advice he had received, said lead commission counsel Linda Rothstein.
  
Smith, who has managed to remain out of the public eye since the expert panel made its conclusions, surprised the inquiry Monday by offering an apology for the "mistakes" he made over two decades performing autopsies on children — findings which led the courts to toss out one conviction and a number of criminal charges.
  
In a statement read by his lawyer, Smith acknowledged that he made a number of mistakes, but that they were made without any intention of obstructing the investigations in which he was involved.
  
The public hearings, led by Justice Stephen Goudge, began Monday with an expert panel and are expected to take about three months, with Smith due to testify in late January.
  
Tuesday's hearing focused on the testimony of McLellan and Dr. Michael Pollanen, Ontario's chief forensic pathologist, who discussed the forensic evidence in the case of William Mullins-Johnson, who was wrongfully convicted of sodomizing and killing his four-year-old niece.
  
The inquiry is expected to report his findings and make recommendations on restoring confidence in the pediatric forensic system in April.