"The Hospital for Sick Children is apologizing for “unacceptable” practices in its Motherisk drug testing laboratory, its chief executive officer told the Star in an exclusive interview on Thursday. “We deeply regret that the practices in the
Motherisk drug testing laboratory didn’t meet the high standard of
excellence that we have here at Sick Kids, and we extend our sincere
apologies to children, families and organizations who feel that they may
have been impacted in some negative way,” said Dr. Michael Apkon,
speaking in his office at the hospital. “We remain resolved in our efforts to ensure
that we have the highest standards of quality and safety in all of our
programs so that unacceptable events like this never happen again.” Sick Kids permanently halted drug and alcohol
hair testing at Motherisk last spring in the midst of an internal
review, which showed a laboratory operating at times without appropriate
oversight or rigorous quality assurance processes, yet relied upon in
many child protection and criminal cases across the country. Apkon said the hospital has no plans to resume drug and alcohol hair tests.... The Star’s investigation showed that prior to
2010, Motherisk was testing hair using a methodology described by
experts as falling short of the “gold-standard test.” And while
Motherisk did switch to the gold standard after 2010 for most drugs, the
internal review found it was still using the less definitive test for
some drugs, including cannabinoids, until the lab was closed in April. The hospital has never provided the number of
cases that relied upon Motherisk testing prior to 2010. Apkon said it
would be impossible to give an accurate number without “collaborating”
with other partners in the judicial system. The Sick Kids’ investigation also uncovered
that for several years, Motherisk had been misleading the hospital about
its testing process. The lab was a participant in the Society of Hair
Testing’s “proficiency testing” program, in which hair samples with
known quantities of drugs were sent by the SoHT to organizations for
testing so that they could compare their results with other
participating groups to ensure their processes were reliable. Unbeknownst to Sick Kids, “results from
another laboratory used to confirm results from (Motherisk) were
submitted to the SoHT as (Motherisk)’s results,” according to the
summary of findings...Among the changes stemming from the review is
the implementation of a program “to ensure that our staff testifying in
court understand their professional responsibilities and their role in
the judicial system,” Apkon said. He told the Star that while Motherisk
never “held themselves out” as a forensic lab — Motherisk was actually
accredited as a clinical lab — the lab’s staff “may not have routinely
identified the limitations in their approach or processes in a way that
would allow the judicial system to appropriately gauge the credibility
of the results.”
Friday, October 16, 2015
Bulletin: SickKids apologizes for drug-test failings of its Motherisk lab; Hospital says it “deeply” regrets harm to families caused by “unacceptable” practices by lab whose tests were relied on in court. "Among the changes stemming from the review is the implementation of a program “to ensure that our staff testifying in court understand their professional responsibilities and their role in the judicial system,” Apkon said. He told the Star that while Motherisk never “held themselves out” as a forensic lab — Motherisk was actually accredited as a clinical lab — the lab’s staff “may not have routinely identified the limitations in their approach or processes in a way that would allow the judicial system to appropriately gauge the credibility of the results.” Toronto Star;
