Alberta sends a letter of excuse to former medical examiner

The Alberta government issued a letter of excuses to a former medical examination assistant, the province saying that there were no justice mistakes from his work and was “treated unfairly”.

The apologies comes at more than a decade after Dr. Evan Matshes launched a $ 30 million trial against the province, claiming it was the subject of a smear campaign intended to cause him to be reputational and to ruin his career.

Matshes worked as a medical assistant nurse in Calgary in 2010 and 2011.

“Dr. Matshes was unfairly treated in the events of these issues, and the Alberta Government regrets the damages made to the reputation Dr. Matshes,” said the letter from the Provincial Ministry of Justice on February 14th.

“The Alberta government is unequivocally state that the statements that Dr. Matshes activity as a medical examiner was unreasonable have not been unfounded and are withdrawn.

Matshes resigned in 2011. A statement issued this month said he resigned to protest against the conditions of the Chief Medical Examiner.

The province said in his apology letter that, following his resignation, “certain accusations” were made regarding his work. He said that these statements were later proved to be unfounded. However, the controversy “has unfairly caused bad career and reputation with Dr. Matshes.”

“These accusations, which were later proved to have been unfounded, became the subject of public, political and legal controversies,” reads the letter, assigned Elizabeth Macve, deputy assistant of the minister of integrated strategy, support and initiatives.

“This controversy has caused unfairly bad career and reputation with Dr. Matshes.”

The province said that a series of internal and external reviews about Matshes’s work and complaints, including those performed by the Alberta Medical and Surgeons College, “rejected the accusations or confirmed that there were no mistakes of justice.”

In a statement, Matshes wrote that he is “grateful that justice Alberta has finally admitted that I was unfairly targeted and that the quality of my work is beyond reproach.”

“As a forensic pathologist, my duty is to make sure that the justice system and the public have reliable medical evidence and defense opinions. Withdrawal and excuses from justice in Alberta talk about me about establishing registration,” wrote Matshes.

In 2012, an external group consisting of three forensic pathologies performed a review of some of Matshes’s works. He claimed that his conclusions in 13 out of 14 cases were “unreasonable”.

However, these findings were canceled after a courtyard court in Queen’s decided that the group’s review was not correct for Matshes and that it was not consulted properly.

Two years later, Matshes sued the provinceclaiming that several people have launched a smear campaign against him to destroy their reputation and career.

Subsequent reviews of the problem, including one led by a retired justice of the Ontario Superior Court, rejected the accusations, as mentioned in the excuse letter of the province.

Mathes and the province have reached a confidential agreement, but did not publicly reveal a solution. A justice spokesman in Alberta refused to comment on the agreement, as did a Marshhes spokesman, citing his confidential nature.

Separately, Matshes is in court and CBC News for a two -part story about Fifth estate The television program, entitled The Autopsy: What happens if justice was wrong, which was broadcast in January 2020. The trial, submitted in January 2022, supposed “reckless, irresponsible and deliberate” of Matshes.

CBC News has requested comments on the CBC trial Chief of Public Affairs Chuck Thompson.

“While we do not comment on the issues before the courts, we are with our journalism in this story,” Thompson said in a Email.

A Matshes spokesman said he continues to “aggressively follow his disputes against Fifth estate.

Matshes now works in the United States as a medical director at an independent agency that offers forensic pathology services.

The province said that he will be eligible for employment as a forensic pathologist in Alberta, if he had to choose to look for such a work.