Gaston wants psychiatrist investigated
Turcotte’s ex-wife says Bourget gave improper testimony at trials
Guy Turcotte’s ex-wife Isabelle Gaston has decided to withdraw her complaint with the Collège des Médecins against psychiatrist and expert witness Dominique Bourget.
But she hopes the Collège’s disciplinary council will decide to investigate Bourget without her.
Bourget, based in Ottawa, testified at both of Turcotte’s murder trials that he was intoxicated on methanol and suffering from an “adjustment disorder” the night he stabbed his children to death, and was therefore not criminally responsible for his actions. In his first trial, the jury agreed. Largely based on Bourget’s testimony, Turcotte was sent to the Pinel psychiatric institute instead of prison, and was released 18 months later.
But in December 2015, another jury found the former cardiologist guilty of two counts of second-degree murder, and sent him to jail for life, with a possibility of parole after 17 years.
Gaston, who lodged a private complaint with the Collège in January 2012 — after the first verdict — accused Bourget of various faults, including inadequate content of an expertise or testimony, insufficient care given to her diagnostic, acting rashly contrary to the facts of current medical science and going beyond her field of expertise.
For example, Bourget testified at length about the effects on Turcotte of ingesting methanol — windshield washer fluid — before he killed his children. But Bourget is not a toxicologist, Gaston said in an interview with the Montreal Gazette.
And her diagnosis of adjustment disorder could be applied to anyone who commits a so-called honour crime, or has a political agenda, or escapes from prison, Gaston said.
“I wanted justice for my children, but I also couldn’t understand what had happened,” said Gaston, who is a doctor herself. “I had the impression (after the trial) that what I was going through was impossible. As a doctor, as a member of society and as the mother.
“I lodged the complaint hoping things would change for people in the same situation. I started seeing
expert witnesses at the centre of so many dramas in criminal trials, but also with the Workers Compensation Board or in lawsuits with companies, and I saw that everyday people are trying to have their rights recognized and it’s the lawyers who are profiting.”
At that time, Gaston thought the Collège would investigate and read the transcripts from Turcotte’s trial.
Instead, in the five years since she filed the complaint, the Collège has told her several times that it wouldn’t investigate, either because
it’s not within its mandate, or because the case was still before the courts, or because it found no fault to investigate.
Gaston is therefore turning the page and withdrawing her complaint.
“For me, the cost has been too great, financially and emotionally. And I don’t know why a third hearing (with the Collège) would change anything,” Gaston said.
At a hearing scheduled for Sept. 6, the disciplinary committee of the Collège des médecins is expected to decide whether to carry on with an investigation of Bourget without her.
Caroline Langis, a spokesperson for the Collège des médecins, said it will be up to the Collège’s disciplinary council to decide whether to continue the investigation in the interests of protecting the public, or to let the complaint drop.
(Asked to comment on the allegations, lawyers for Bourget replied in an email simply that the complaint was being withdrawn, and arguments would be heard on Sept. 6.)
News of the hearing comes just after the jury in the Richard Henry Bain murder trial reached its decision on whether Bain should be found criminally not responsible by reason of mental illness for the election night shooting in 2012, a defence largely based on the testimony of psychiatrists as expert witnesses.
The jury instead convicted Bain of one count of second-degree murder for killing lighting technician Denis Blanchette, and three counts of attempted murder.
Gaston says she will live with whatever the Collège decides.
“I think I’ve given enough. I persevered and now it’s up to them. I’ve done what I could ... I’m enjoying my return to a calm life. And I think that, if they’re able to carry on (the investigation) without me, I will be relieved. Sometimes giving up is also winning — winning back your life.”