Corporate Governance and our Health Care System - Dr. Rookmin Maharaj

Some articles about Dr. Smith:

1) “Before leaving Ontario in disgrace a few years ago, Dr. Smith was an avid farmer of Hereford cows, helped dig up victims of the 1918 flu pandemic from the Arctic permafrost, and travelled to India to investigate a string of murders. ….. Former head of Ontario's pediatric forensic pathology unit also threatened a police officer who gave him a speeding ticket, was infamous for his sloppy work habits, and contributed to the wrongful homicide prosecutions of several parents and caregivers, sometimes with devastating consequences. In a 1994 interview with the Edmonton Journal, after a high-profile Alberta abuse case ended in acquittal, Dr. Smith is quoted as boasting that there had been convictions in all but two of the 20-25 cases of deliberate head injuries in which he testified. The key, he reportedly explained, was co-ordination between all the experts involved. "We don't cook our stories, but we identify problems," Dr. Smith was quoted as saying” http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=268040Disgraced Ontario pathologist begins testimony - Tom Blackwell, National Post Published: Sunday, January 27, 2008

2) Dr. Charles Smith convinced most of the Sudbury, Ont., police force that a local woman had killed her toddler, and refused to change his opinion even when faced with contradictory medical evidence. "He articulated well," said the detective…"Dr. Smith didn't appear receptive to discussion or changing his opinion based on that information," Insp. Keech told the inquiry. "He seemed to maintain his opinion from the initial consultation to the final consultation." http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=237370 - Pathologist convinced police that woman killed her child - Tom Blackwell, National Post Published: Monday, January 14, 2008

3) Reports of the 1991 meeting suggest Dr. Smith defended his findings in the case, and that someone described the judge who rejected his testimony as "strange" and from "the bottom of the heap." … The inquiry heard earlier that the judgment went virtually unnoticed by the Ontario chief coroner's office, which kept Dr. Smith in the pediatric pathology post until 2004……Dr. Huyer and Dr. Driver also described the pathologist yesterday as a professional and respectful colleague who was readily available to lend his expertise. His evangelical Christian leanings were also clear. "He did not preach to me [but] I was quite aware he had strong religious feelings," said Dr. Huyer. Dr. Smith would sometimes comment on his colleague's "aberrant" behaviour, chastising Dr. Huyer for swearing in his presence. http://www.%20nationalpost%20.com/news/story.html?id=226829 - Close
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Court critique of pathologist set off alarm - Dr. Charles Smith -Tom Blackwell, National Post Published: Thursday, January 10, 2008

4) In a 1997 letter raised earlier, the hospital's chief pathologist at the time threatened to curtail Dr. Smith's surgical pathology activities and dock his pay because of delayed and inaccurate reports. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/ story.html?id=184728 - Smith self-taught as forensic pathologist, probe told - Public Inquiry - Tom Blackwell, National Post Published: Thursday, December 20, 2007

WHY WERE THESE CRIMINAL ACTIONS ALLOWED TO CONTINUE IN A SO CALLED 1ST WORLD COUNTRY????

This tragedy was allowed to occur because of Dr. Smith was not open-minded and was not be able to think objectively even if his individual commitment was high. Open mindedness is not simply a function of how Dr. Smith felt but of how Dr. Smith ‘thought’ and that he listen only to himself. Apparently Dr. Smith was not only listening to himself but he also had many professionals convinced that he was doing a good job.

Was this a result of GROUPTHINK Mentality?

Was it due to a brotherhood of ‘like’ professionals who did not want:

a) to create waves about another professional, although many knew he did ’shoddy work’; !
“The more amiability and esprit de corps among the members of a policy-making in-group, the greater is the danger that independent critical thinking will be replaced by groupthink, which is likely to result in irrational and dehumanizing actions directed against out-groups” (Janis, 1983, p. 13). This quote sums up the concept of what is defined as ‘groupthink.’ Groupthink refers to a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgement that results from in-group pressures and in-group ‘esprit de corps’ .

Groupthink can be:

a) grossly inadequate way the policy-makers carry out their decision-making tasks.

b) these groups show signs of high cohesiveness and of an accompanying concurrence-seeking tendency that interferes with critical thinking.

c) where the members’ strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action or even thinking rationally. In the case of Dr. Smith, the results were detrimental to many families. It included the wrongful homicide prosecutions his opinions triggered. Dr. Smith had made serious errors in 20 criminally suspicious deaths he investigated between 1991 and 2001. Parents and others were charged with homicide in most of the cases, though many have since been cleared.

HOW CAN WE ENSURE THAT THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN?

Dr. Rookmin Maharaj has developed a unique and revolutionary model that can identify the characteristics requisite for effective Corporate Governance within an organization that strikes the ideal balance between the formal and informal rules and regulations. Dr. Maharaj has researched with the top oil and gas, mining, chemical, and pipeline companies in North America. She continues to transform ideas into actions, ultimately increasing the bottom line for She is currently consulting with companies in Alberta, Canada on Corporate Governance. She has worked in the energy sector in Alberta Canada for over fifteen years. She has a master’s degree in Higher Education and has taught in France, the Caribbean and in Canada at the University of Calgary and Mount Royal College on Environmental Management and Business. Contact:rmaharaj@ucalgary.ca, maharajl@netzero.net

Janis, I.L. (1983). Groupthink Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes (2nd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company