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Coroner says he put Smith on `too high a pedestal'
Nov 28, 2007 04:30 AM
Theresa Boyle
staff reporter
Ontario's deputy chief coroner admits he failed to recognize warning signs about a controversial pathologist because he was blinded by his own high regard for the doctor, whom he considered to be a trustworthy, religious man.
"I'm quite disappointed that I missed (out on) the signs that were there because I put him on too high a pedestal," Dr. Jim Cairns yesterday told the Public Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario.
He was commenting on Dr. Charles Smith who was found by a panel of five internationally respected experts to have made "significant flaws" in 20 child-death investigations.
"He came across as a very sincere religious individual and perhaps. ... I put too much emphasis on his religious aspect. ... I felt that his religious aspect made it unlikely that he wasn't telling the truth," Cairns explained. Smith worships with the Christian and Missionary Alliance, a Baptist-like group.
The mistakes Smith made in conducting autopsies or giving second opinions on autopsies prompted the province to call the inquiry. His work contributed to some parents or caregivers coming under suspicion or being convicted for the deaths of their children.
Cairns said he started to look at Smith differently in early 2002 during a meeting in which they discussed the death of 21-month-old girl, known only as Jenna. A pubic hair had been found in her vaginal area.
Smith had done the autopsy on Jenna and Cairns asked what happened to the hair.
Cairns said Smith told him he kept the hair and that he even had it in his jacket pocket during the preliminary hearing on the charge of murder against the girl's mother.
That's when Cairns said he knew Smith's career was in trouble.
Coroner says he put Smith on `too high a pedestal'
Nov 28, 2007 04:30 AM
Theresa Boyle
staff reporter
Ontario's deputy chief coroner admits he failed to recognize warning signs about a controversial pathologist because he was blinded by his own high regard for the doctor, whom he considered to be a trustworthy, religious man.
"I'm quite disappointed that I missed (out on) the signs that were there because I put him on too high a pedestal," Dr. Jim Cairns yesterday told the Public Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario.
He was commenting on Dr. Charles Smith who was found by a panel of five internationally respected experts to have made "significant flaws" in 20 child-death investigations.
"He came across as a very sincere religious individual and perhaps. ... I put too much emphasis on his religious aspect. ... I felt that his religious aspect made it unlikely that he wasn't telling the truth," Cairns explained. Smith worships with the Christian and Missionary Alliance, a Baptist-like group.
The mistakes Smith made in conducting autopsies or giving second opinions on autopsies prompted the province to call the inquiry. His work contributed to some parents or caregivers coming under suspicion or being convicted for the deaths of their children.
Cairns said he started to look at Smith differently in early 2002 during a meeting in which they discussed the death of 21-month-old girl, known only as Jenna. A pubic hair had been found in her vaginal area.
Smith had done the autopsy on Jenna and Cairns asked what happened to the hair.
Cairns said Smith told him he kept the hair and that he even had it in his jacket pocket during the preliminary hearing on the charge of murder against the girl's mother.
That's when Cairns said he knew Smith's career was in trouble.
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