STORY: "Children's aid societies told to stop using Motherisk hair tests," by reporter Rachel Mendleson, published by the Toronto Star on April 22, 2015.
SUB-HEADING: "Ontario is also expanding the scope of the probe at the Hospital for Sick Children lab."
PHOTO CAPTION: "The final report on the Motherisk lab at Sick Kids hospital by retired Appeal Court Justice Susan Lang is now expected in December."
GIST: "The province is expanding the scope of the independent probe into problems at the Hospital for Sick Children’s Motherisk Drug Testing Laboratory. The Ministry of Children and Youth Services has also directed children's aid societies to “immediately stop relying on” hair drug and alcohol testing in the course of child protection proceedings, the province said in a news release Wednesday, amid an ongoing Star investigation. The province has expanded the scope of the review from hair tests to include hair drug and alcohol tests from 2005 to 2015. It will also “consider other matters related to the operation of the laboratory as appropriate,” according to the press release. The final report by retired Appeal Court justice Susan Lang is now expected in December..........Motherisk’s hair drug and alcohol tests have been used as evidence in cases across the country, generally as proof of parental substance abuse. The results have influenced an unknown number of child custody decisions. Sick Kids announced last week that it is permanently closing all non-research operations of the Motherisk lab, including hair alcohol and drug testing. The hospital temporarily suspended hair drug and alcohol testing in March after an internal review and Lang’s review uncovered new information.
The hospital has not revealed any details about the nature of the information that has been uncovered. The decision to shutter Motherisk’s hair and drug testing lab is in stark contrast to the position Sick Kids took when the Star started asking questions about Motherisk last year, when the hospital vigorously defended the reliability of the lab in the media."
The entire story can be found at
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com.
Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;