Pubdate: Mon, 19 Oct 2015
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Page: A10

SORRY ISN'T ENOUGH

Sick Kids CEO's Apology for Drug Testing Flaws Too Little, Too Late

On the face of it, last week's apology from the Hospital for Sick 
Children for flaws in the hair-strand drug and alcohol testing 
program at its Motherisk lab may seem laudable.

Except for this: Sick Kids spent almost a year denying there were 
problems at the lab. It did so in the face of an exhaustive 
investigation by the Star's Rachel Mendleson that cast doubt on the 
reliability of the lab's drug and alcohol hair tests. And it did so 
despite protests from many experts who were concerned that parents 
might be losing custody of their children and others might face 
criminal convictions based on flawed lab tests.

That's why it was too little, too late when the hospital's CEO, Dr. 
Michael Apkon, apologized for the "unacceptable" practices at 
Motherisk and "to children, families and organizations who feel that 
they may have been impacted in some negative way."

Indeed, it was Apkon who co-wrote a stirring defence of the 
hospital's lab last November saying the hospital had reviewed "the 
processes, methodologies and quality control data" for it and 
"reaffirmed that the public can have full confidence in the 
reliability of Motherisk's hair testing."

Really? As the just-released results of a second internal review 
found, nothing could be further from the truth. A summary of the 
review reveals that:

Although it was not a forensic lab, staff may not have routinely 
identified the limitations of its results when testifying in court.

For several years, Motherisk had been misleading the hospital and 
others about its testing process.

The lab did not use the "gold standard" for testing for drugs such as 
cannabinoids, even after it moved to it for other drugs. Oversight of 
the lab was not strong enough. And consider just one example of the 
ramifications of those failings.

In 2008, Christine Rupert lost custody of her two young daughters 
based on positive cocaine hair test results from the Motherisk lab. 
That was at a time when the lab was using what other doctors called 
preliminary tests - not the "gold standard" test for cocaine.

Still, such was the unquestioned reputation of Motherisk that it 
didn't matter she had produced nearly 70 clean urine tests, cut ties 
with an abusive ex, and had ample money and space to care for the 
girls. Motherisk"wrecked my life," she says.

After the province directed Children's Aid Societies to "immediately 
stop using or relying on hair-strand drug and alcohol testing," Sick 
Kids closed down the Motherisk lab last April, except for research 
purposes. Still, this is not the end of it.

In December, a provincially ordered independent review of Motherisk 
testing, conducted by retired Court of Appeal justice Susan Lang, is 
expected to report. It can't come soon enough for families who may 
have been torn apart by a flawed drug-testing process. They deserve 
to know the truth.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom