CALGARY - Alberta's legal community weighed in Tuesday following word that justice officials are reviewing a former forensic pathologist's work.
The pathologist, identified by local media as Dr. Michael Belenky, recently left his job after two years as an assistant medical examiner in Calgary.
He has not been reachable and his whereabouts are not known.
A prosecutor has been assigned to go through all the criminal files the pathologist has been involved in.
The priority will be to review cases currently before the courts, followed by cases that have already been concluded.
"If even one case is affected, that can be very significant and pretty major to a lot of people," said Deborah Hatch, president of the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association in Edmonton.
"I think the public always needs to question any type of evidence and where that evidence comes from and how objective that evidence is," she said.
"This kind of evidence is critical because it's relied on so substantially by judges and juries in serious cases."
Belenky, who is still listed as an active member of the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons, attended the Gigienceskij Med Institute in Leningrad, Russia. He graduated in 1990 and completed his medical residency at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in anatomic and clinical pathology.
Emails to the two universities from The Canadian Press were not returned. An official with the Alberta Medical Association wouldn't comment either.
"We don't have any information on that story and it's not something that we would comment on in any case," said Shannon Rupnarain.
Questions first arose when the Calgary Police Service requested clarification of an autopsy finding made by Belenky. Alberta Justice spokesman David Dear said a second look at the autopsy confirmed the results were inaccurate.
The review comes as Ontario's disgraced child pathologist, Dr. Charles Smith, continues to make headlines. He was stripped of his medical licence Tuesday.
Smith's expert evidence on more than a dozen baby and child deaths saw several people prosecuted or jailed. A public inquiry three years ago savaged his methods and Ontario's top court has set aside five convictions based, in part, on Smith's testimony. Another half-dozen appeals are pending.
Lawyers in Calgary were checking to see if they had any cases that Belenky was involved in.
"You hope it's nothing as serious as that ... You hope it won't turn out like that," said defence lawyer Balfour Der.
Der pointed to Smith as an example of such things being possible.
Trial lawyer Adriano Iovinelli said he immediately checked his files to see if Belenky had been involved in any of his cases. "Everyone of course thinks the worst-case scenario because of what has happened recently in Ontario," Iovinelli said.
Criminal lawyer Andre Ouellette said it's too soon to conclude anything.
"He's only been there a couple of years and we all make mistakes," he said. "... Maybe there was a typo in the report."
Ouellette said he is concerned that someone working for the medical examiner could have his work questioned since the position is supposed to be neutral when it comes to a trial.
