Fired Researcher's 'Last Words' Deleted from Computer, Siste
Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 8:14 amFired Researcher's 'Last Words' Deleted from Computer, Sister Says
[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/07/08/Doc-D ... ign=080715 ]
Coroner denies claim it removed message from Roderick MacIsaac's laptop.
By Andrew MacLeod, July 8, 2015, TheTyee.ca
Roderick MacIsaac took his life after health ministry fired him with others over allegations never proven and no longer pursued.
The sister of Roderick MacIsaac, the former B.C. health ministry co-op student who committed suicide in 2012 a few months after being fired, is complaining that the provincial coroner's office deleted a key document off MacIsaac's personal computer before releasing the laptop to his family.
"The decision to suppress this document raises serious concerns for us and [is] another issue to be dealt with in a public inquiry," Linda Kayfish wrote in a July 6 letter to Premier Christy Clark.
"It is part of a continuing pattern to cover up mistakes and actions by the powerful, while exposing those, such as Roderick, to the full force of government power," she wrote.
But Matt Brown, the regional coroner for the Island Region, denied that anyone in his office, under its direction, or with the police, deleted anything from MacIsaac's computer. "I feel very confident the laptop was returned to the family with nothing deleted," he said in a phone interview late yesterday. "I've confirmed that with the police."
The computer was protected with a password and it is standard practice for the coroner's office to ask the police to help in situations where the investigation requires some technical expertise, Brown said.
MacIsaac was fired in 2012, along with six others, after the health ministry announced allegations related to data management, contracts and conflicts of interest. The government has since reinstated two of the people who were fired and settled out of court in three wrongful dismissal and defamation lawsuits. It has apologized to MacIsaac's family for the firing.
Kayfish said the coroner's office told her in January 2013 that the document written by her brother existed, but that her family would have to wait until the office's investigation into his death concluded before they could know its contents. In June of that year, someone from the coroner's office read her the document, but replaced any names with letters of the alphabet.
The office declined to provide her with a copy of the document, citing the Coroner's Act and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and when the machine was given to the family in October 2013 the document had been deleted, she said.
Brown said that because MacIsaac's letter came into the coroner's possession through its investigation, it could not directly release it to the family, similar to how it would not be able to release a medical record or other personal document.
The coroner's office was aware, however, that the family would receive the computer when the investigation ended, and Brown was surprised to hear they believed the document had been deleted, he said.
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[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/07/08/Doc-D ... ign=080715 ]
Coroner denies claim it removed message from Roderick MacIsaac's laptop.
By Andrew MacLeod, July 8, 2015, TheTyee.ca
Roderick MacIsaac took his life after health ministry fired him with others over allegations never proven and no longer pursued.
The sister of Roderick MacIsaac, the former B.C. health ministry co-op student who committed suicide in 2012 a few months after being fired, is complaining that the provincial coroner's office deleted a key document off MacIsaac's personal computer before releasing the laptop to his family.
"The decision to suppress this document raises serious concerns for us and [is] another issue to be dealt with in a public inquiry," Linda Kayfish wrote in a July 6 letter to Premier Christy Clark.
"It is part of a continuing pattern to cover up mistakes and actions by the powerful, while exposing those, such as Roderick, to the full force of government power," she wrote.
But Matt Brown, the regional coroner for the Island Region, denied that anyone in his office, under its direction, or with the police, deleted anything from MacIsaac's computer. "I feel very confident the laptop was returned to the family with nothing deleted," he said in a phone interview late yesterday. "I've confirmed that with the police."
The computer was protected with a password and it is standard practice for the coroner's office to ask the police to help in situations where the investigation requires some technical expertise, Brown said.
MacIsaac was fired in 2012, along with six others, after the health ministry announced allegations related to data management, contracts and conflicts of interest. The government has since reinstated two of the people who were fired and settled out of court in three wrongful dismissal and defamation lawsuits. It has apologized to MacIsaac's family for the firing.
Kayfish said the coroner's office told her in January 2013 that the document written by her brother existed, but that her family would have to wait until the office's investigation into his death concluded before they could know its contents. In June of that year, someone from the coroner's office read her the document, but replaced any names with letters of the alphabet.
The office declined to provide her with a copy of the document, citing the Coroner's Act and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and when the machine was given to the family in October 2013 the document had been deleted, she said.
Brown said that because MacIsaac's letter came into the coroner's possession through its investigation, it could not directly release it to the family, similar to how it would not be able to release a medical record or other personal document.
The coroner's office was aware, however, that the family would receive the computer when the investigation ended, and Brown was surprised to hear they believed the document had been deleted, he said.
MORE:
[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/07/08/Doc-D ... ign=080715 ]
- - - -
Related
Health Firings: How Ombudsperson's Hands Could Be Tied
[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/07/06/Ombudsman-Hands-Tied/ ]
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Health Firings: BC Gov't Seeks Probe by Ombudsperson
[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/07/03/Healt ... son-Probe/ ]
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