A six-person jury has awarded a doctor millions of dollars in a verdict against the Coroner’s office and its chief forensic pathologist.
In 2012, Saskatchewan’s chief forensic pathologist, Dr. Shaun Ladham, was tasked with assessing Dr. Jeffrey Racette’s skills, according to Bob Hrycan, Racette’s lawyer.
Court documents show the jury found Dr. Ladham didn’t act in good faith in failing Dr. Racette in his assessment.
“The trial heard evidence that Dr. Ladham went as far as switching samples. That is, switching samples of findings that Dr. Racette had made, to substitute findings which he then claimed had errors in them,” Hrycan said.
Court also heard testimony that Dr. Ladham made racist remarks, he said.
“You can’t look into the mind of another person. There is certainly evidence that Dr. Ladham made racist comments during the course of his tenure as chief forensic pathologist, and we know that Dr. Racette is Metis,” Hrycan said.
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Dr. Ladham denied those allegations in court documents. He also took the stand and denied the claims against him, Hrycan said.
The province and Dr. Ladham also argued in court documents that Dr. Racette didn’t have the skills or knowledge to be a forensic pathologist.
“Among other things the plaintiff confused the left and right of a body repeatedly; was unable accurately to describe sharp force injuries; was unable to describe evidence of trauma accurately,” court documents read.
But the jury agreed with Racette, awarding him $5 million, including $1.5 million in punitive damages, which is among the highest in Canada, Hrycan said.
“I’m pleased that the system worked. I’m totally appalled at the conduct of the Coroner’s office,” Hrycan said.
“It’s difficult for me to see how an office charged with protecting the public can do something like this, but the jury found they did, and that’s very serious,” he said.
“I think it’s enough to cause a crisis of confidence in the office of the public Coroner.”
“If the process by which the charges are laid are tainted either by racism or by dishonest conduct, what does that mean for the criminal justice process?” Hrycan said.
Hrycan said Dr. Racette feels vindicated by the jury’s decision.
“What do you tell a man who has effectively lost a career when that career meant everything to him,” he said. “I think for now that he needs to let it settle in that he’s been believed.”
“You have no idea what that means to him.”
The justice ministry said it will review the decision and consider its next steps.