Dr Charles Smith disgraced paediatric pathologist Canada

In Canada there is a public inquiry underway into Charles Smith a self taught paediatric pathologist and the very person who established the triad in shaken baby cases as being the definitive for the diagnosis.

Clicking on the title of this posting will take you to the transcripts of the hearing and below is the abstract of what Smith and his now disgraced team published in 2002 and forms the basis upon which accusations are made against parents and carers when infants die of alleged SBS - the triad is junk science admitted by one of the authors themselves. Dr Charles Smith. It is considered to be the most comprehensive paper on SBS ever written.

What is truly frightening about this chain of events is how Smith rose to the dizzy heights he did without anyone challenging him and it makes you wonder just how many "experts" worldwide are cut from the same cloth.

Fatal child abuse-maltreatment syndrome. A retrospective study in Ontario, Canada, 1990-1995.

Type ARTICLE, 2002, IRL, ENG

Auteurs POLLANEN (Michael-S), SMITH (Charles-R) : USA. Pediatric Forensic Pathology Unit. Hospital for Sick Children. Toronto. ON., CHIASSON (David-A), CAIRNS (James-T), YOUNG (James)

Auteurs moraux Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology. University of Toronto. Toronto. ON. CAN, Forensic Pathology Unit. Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario. Toronto. ON. CAN, Forensic Science Programme. University of Toronto. Toronto. ON. CAN

Titre Fatal child abuse-maltreatment syndrome. A retrospective study in Ontario, Canada, 1990-1995.

Périodique FORENSIC SCIENCE INTERNATIONAL
Volume, fascicule 126, 2
ISSN 0379-0738

Pages 101-104, 12 réf.

Résumé(s) Child death due to repeated episodes of physical assault or neglect has been termed the child abuse-maltreatment syndrome (CAMS).

We characterized the injuries in a series of fatally abused or maltreated child to delineate objective diagnostic criteria for the CAMS for use by clinicians and pathologists.

All deaths (age<17 years) investigated by the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario, Canada during the time period 1990-1995 were reviewed.

Cases of CAMS were defined as death due to lethal recent injury or malnutrition in the presence of significant old (healing or healed) injuries indicative of repeated episode of inllicted trauma.

The nature and frequency of the various injuries was determined.
The frequency of the shaken baby syndrome and the types and frequency of ano-genital injuries were also studied.

Twenty-one cases of fatal CAMS were found in the study period.

Most cases had significant recent head injury with intra-cranial hemorrhage (71%)).
Other significant recent injuries commonly observed included blunt injuries of the skin and soft tissues (67%) blunt abdominal trauma with visceral injuries (14%), and fractures (18%).

Eight cases (38%) fulfilled accepted criteria for the shaken baby syndrome.
Many children with fatal head injuries had evidence of older head trauma (38% of all cases).

A significant minority of cases had evidence of malnutrition due to neglect (10%) or ongoing ano-genital injuries (10%).

Most cases of child homicides due to repeated episodes of abuse or maltreatment involve head trauma including shaken baby syndrome.

Fractures of long bone and ribs, the classical markers of child abuse, were relatively infrequent compared with head injury.

A proportion of cases had ano-genital injuries due to repeated sexual abuse or punitive maltreatment.

All clinicians and pathologists must recognize the wide spectrum of injuries in child abuse to ultimate protect the victim or other children in an at-risk situation.

Mots-clés BDSP Mortalité, Epidémiologie, Canada, Amérique, Enfance maltraitée, Abus sexuel, Homicide, Médecine légale, Enfant, Homme, Maltraitance, Amérique du Nord
Mots-clés PASCAL Mortalité, Epidémiologie, Ontario, Canada, Amérique du Nord, Amérique, Enfant maltraité, Abus sexuel, Meurtre, Négligence, Médecine légale, Rétrospective, Enfant, Homme, Victimologie
Mortality, Epidemiology, Ontario, Canada, North America, America, Child abuse, Sexual abuse, Murder, Neglect, Legal medicine, Retrospective, Child, Human, Victimology
Référence BDSP : 263861
Notice produite par INIST-CNRS : 02-0426944
Code INIST-CNRS 002B30A11


Controversial doctor admitted his knowledge of forensic pathology was 'woefully inadequate'

Tom Blackwell , Canwest News Service

Published: Monday, January 28, 2008

TORONTO - Dr. Charles Smith apologized for his mistakes again Monday and admitted his knowledge of forensic pathology was "woefully" inadequate during his years as head of Ontario's pediatric forensic pathology unit.

Smith began his much-anticipated testimony at the inquiry examining his discredited work by acknowledging and voicing regret for his well-documented failings.

As several of the people wrongly prosecuted for homicide in his cases looked on, he conceded he had little training in the forensic field or in courtroom testimony and sometimes behaved unprofessionally.


"I have come to appreciate mistakes I have made and I am sorry for them," a solemn-looking Smith told the inquiry. "I also recognize that at times my conduct was not professional and I deeply regret that.

"I do accept full responsibility for my work and for my opinions and for my actions."

The inquiry was called last year after a panel of international experts found he had made serious errors in 20 of 45 criminally suspicious deaths he helped investigate between 1991 and 2001. Parents or other caregivers were charged in most of the cases, though many have since been cleared.

The outside experts told the inquiry Smith came to conclusions that were clearly unjustified, gave speculative and misleading testimony and seemed to have no training in forensic pathology.

Top officials of the coroner's office said they generally overlooked the mistakes for more than a decade.

Colleagues testified to Smith's disorganized, tardy work habits.

Though he was certified as a pediatric pathologist, he conceded Monday he received virtually no formal training in forensic pathology - dealing with cases that have a legal aspect.

"It was self taught, it was minimal," he said of his knowledge of the field. "In retrospect, I realize it was woefully inadequate."

He also confessed to receiving little training in being an expert witness at criminal trials, apart from a two-day course he took in the United States.

"I thought I knew it, but I realize now just how profoundly ignorant I was."

Sherry Sherret, convicted of infanticide in the 1996 in the death of her four-month-old son Joshua, said she has many questions she wants to hear answered by the pathologist, whose evidence was key in her case.

"I would want to ask him . . . why did he do it, how does he feel, does he regret anything that he did," she said, but conceded that others bear some of the blame for what happened, too.

"In the long run, it's not 100 per cent his fault, because obviously, someone wasn't watching him."

National Post