Chief Medical Examiner's Office to be reviewed, throne speech reveals

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Newfoundland and Labrador will go under the microscope, the speech from the throne indicated Tuesday.

• Brain that was evidence in Labrador infant death case likely thrown out with medical waste, docs show
• Matthew Rich murder case: Review called into how infant's brain went missing

Outlining the course the new Liberal government plans to take, Lt.-Gov. Frank Fagan indicated there will be a review of the operational and organizational requirements of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME).

The review will take place in conjunction with the province's largest health authority, Eastern Health.

The speech said the review is to "ensure [the office] is properly resourced and structured to effectively fulfil its mandate."

Eastern Health and the OCME came under pressure following a CBC News investigation in January into the collapse of a murder case in Labrador.

The brain belonging to Matthew Rich, the four-month-old baby from Sheshatshiu who died in hospital in 2013, went missing while under the care of the OCME.

The second-degree murder charge against Thomas Michel, the baby's father, was dropped as a result. 

Documents obtained by CBC News show the brain was believed to have been inadvertently thrown out with other medical specimens.

Following that revelation, Justice and Public Safety Minister Andrew Parsons said a review would be conducted into how the brain went missing.

Premier Dwight Ball said the lost evidence in the Rich case sparked the review, which will also look more broadly at staffing and resources at the office.

"It will be all of that surrounding the procedures but also a review of the staffing resources and even the structure of the office itself to make sure that it works in a functional way," Ball told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

The focus will be preventing incidents like that of the Rich case, Ball said.