On Monday, Minister of Health Fuad Khan expressed concern about the status of forensic pathology in Trinidad and Tobago and was considering whether practical experience might substitute for formal degrees.At the time, Dr Khan believed that Dr Valery Alexandrov was the sole qualified forensic pathologist working in the country and would later apologise to Dr Eastlyn McDonald-Burris, also a qualified forensic pathologist.
Dr Amery Browne, MP for Diego Martin Central, suggested the creation of a specialist register as one way to clarify the qualifications and status of doctors working in such deep specialty.Sparking this sudden refocusing on the state of forensic pathology was the range of forensic results on the death of Lance Cpl Curtis Marshall, whose death was described as asphyxia consistent with strangulation and an asthma attack in consecutive autopsies.
According to Justice Minister Christlyn Moore, there's no problem at the Forensic Science Centre, and no shortage of qualified forensic pathologists. Ms Moore is the line minister for the forensic pathology department. Along with Dr Alexandrov, the Forensic Science Centre also makes use of the services of Dr McDonald-Burris, Dr Hubert Daisley and Dr Hughvon des Vignes.
In an interview in January 2012, Dr Alexandrov noted that while the Forensic Science Centre needs the services of four forensic pathologists, it often functions with just two.That results in a staggering workload per pathologist. In 2012 alone, the centre handled 904 autopsies, with Dr Alexandrov doing 437 of them.
That workload is not commensurate with international standards for a forensic facility. This alone should be a cause of concern for the Justice Ministry. The case of Trinidad-born chemist Annie Dookhan, whose ambitions and overwork led to the contamination of thousands of samples in Boston, should stand as a warning.
While nothing on that scale has plagued local forensics, it's clear that more needs to be done to improve the quality of forensic pathology in Trinidad and Tobago.There have been several recent cases in which it has been necessary to perform multiple autopsies on a single case, each of which has delivered different results.
In December, the Government brought in US forensic pathologist James Gill to review two autopsy reports done on Stacy Ramdeen after one reported her death as the result of a heart attack, the other citing strangulation as the cause. In the 2001 case of eight-year-old Daniel Guerra, found dead in a river at Tarouba, the causes of death were, across three autopsies, death by drowning, asphyxia before entering the river and homicidal asphyxia.
Beyond these issues, which raise questions that are yet to be effectively answered, the Forensic Science Centre has no fingerprint database and recent technology additions to identify DNA are crippled with no national database of DNA for reference.Other procedural matters plague the Forensic Science Centre. There is no daily police report on murders and Dr Alexandrov finds out what he should expect each day by reading the newspaper.
Crime scene weapons such as knives and cutlasses are lodged with the police, not at the centre, where their testing is part of the process.The centre also does not receive crime scene photographs from the police.Some of these issues seem straightforward and dealing with them quickly would constitute a refreshed commitment to accurate and efficient forensic pathology practice.
Photographic and video recording of autopsies, continuous training updates for practicing pathologists and enhanced training of police officers, detectives and DMOs in the basics of forensic pathology to ensure proper handling of crime scene evidence might also serve to improve the quality of autopsy results.The Justice Minister may be confident in the capabilities and procedures in play at the Forensic Science Centre, but public confidence is shaken, and the department would clearly benefit from some focused attention.