Chief medical examiner defends two-year wait for child's autopsy report

Alberta's chief medical examiner is defending thetwo years it took to complete an autopsy report on the death of a child in kinship care.

Four-year-old Serenity was living with relatives on a reserve in central Alberta when she was airlifted to Stollery Children's Hospital on Sept. 18, 2014, suffering from a severe brain injury. She remained on life support until Sept. 27.

Dr. ElizabethBrooks-Lim said her office knew the cause of Serenity's death immediately, but it took almost two years todetermine whether the death was suspicious.

Whether the death is considered non-suspicious, suspicious or criminal has never been made public.

Police present at autopsy

Brooks-Limsaid determining whether the death is suspiciouscan involve several investigationsdone outside the medical examiner'soffice, "and we have to wait for that."

She said if a medical examiner has any reason to think the death might be suspicious, they will stop the autopsy and call in police.

When asked if the police were at Serenity's autopsy, Brooks Lim replied, "Yes, they were. In this case the police were already present."

Because of the police investigation, the autopsy report will notbe shared with family for the time being.

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'Highly, highly unusual'

A former Alberta chief medical examiner saidit's unheard of for an autopsyreport to take two years.

"I just think it's highly, highly unusual and begs for explanation very quickly," said Dr. John Butt,chief medical examiner between 1977 to 1993, whoparticipated in writing Alberta's Fatality Inquiries Act, legislation which includes investigating deaths of people under provincial care.

"I could turn around and say, 'Well, maybe there's something furtive about it,' but I wouldn't want to speculate on what that would be," he said. "It's very uncommon. Two years, this is crazy."

Brooks-Limagrees that it's highly unusual. Inthe last 10 years there have only been two others that took that long, though neither involved children.

"We feel the burden of that," she said. "We are very, very conscious of the fact because of these delays, families suffer.

"They need the reports for closure."

Brooks Lim alsopoints to the heavy caseload in heroffice which isslowing down the process.

Last year, seven medical examiners performed 4,000post-mortemexams.

Brooks Lim said she is looking for ways to streamline the process.

Serenity's story spurred criticism of the NDP government this week, withopposition parties demandingHuman Services MinisterIrfanSabirresign after learning theRCMPfailed toreceive critical documents in the case until this week.

Sabirrefused toresign, insteadsayingan all-party ministerial panel will review the child intervention system andmake recommendationstoimprove it.