Disgraced doc speaks at high school

By Terry Davidson

Dr. Charles Smith (QMI AGENCY PHOTO

Disgraced pathologist Charles Smith gave a guest lecture at a high school east of Toronto.
Smith’s wrongful findings in many child deaths led to the jailing of innocent people and the unjust removal of kids from their homes.
He conducted a noon-hour talk to a Grade 11 law class at Prince Edward Collegiate Institute in Picton last Friday, according to Kerry Donnell, a spokesman for the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board.
“It was indeed that Charles Smith,” Donnell confirmed, adding that board officials were “surprised” to learn about his appearance.
“This was not a board-endorsed presentation, and board officials didn’t know (about this).”
Rob McGall, the board’s director of education, could not say who arranged or approved Smith’s talk or what the lecture was about.
“It appears that he was invited by someone at the school, either a parent of a student or a classroom teacher, or a combination of both,” said McGall. “We were surprised that this particular individual was invited in to speak to students.”
But McGall added that board officials are “disappointed” no one consulted them about the lecture, given Smith’s controversial past.
Smith was a child forensic pathologist with Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children for 24 years. Once considered top-notch in his field, Smith was regularly called on to testify in cases involving suspicious deaths and of alleged child abuse.
But a 2007 coroner’s review of 45 of Smith’s autopsies, between 1991 and 2002, found that Smith made questionable conclusions in 20 cases — a handful of which led to criminal convictions.
An inquiry later found that Smith “made false and misleading statements” in court proceedings and “lacked basic knowledge about forensic pathology.”
One case involved a man convicted of strangling and sexually assaulting his young niece. After years in jail, his case was overturned after other pathologists found the girl died of natural causes.
Smith’s medical licence expired in August 2008 and was never renewed. The College of Physicians and Surgeons revoked it last February.
The Toronto Sun first learned of Smith’s lecture from the father of a teen who attends the school, but who was not part of the class lectured by Smith.
The father said Smith was at the school to give a lecture on “DNA”. He also claimed that students were instructed by the school’s staff to not record or video Smith.
The daughter said her civics teacher claimed to be Smith’s friend. Smith gave the lecture to that teacher’s class, according to the girl.
Her father called Smith’s appearance “ludicrous.”