Inquest into UVic student's fatal overdose recommends improvements to B.C. and campus emergency response

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The assemblage successful a British Columbia coroner's inquest into the overdose decease of a University of Victoria pupil has recommended a raft of measures for government, schools and B.C.'s exigency dispatch system.

Key among the five-person jury's recommendations released precocious Thursday morning were boosting acquisition astir harmless cause use, making definite field buildings were intelligibly addressed and stocked with exigency equipment, and updated protocols for field information and 911 calls.

Sidney McIntyre-Starko, 18, died successful January 2024 aft snorting fentanyl successful her UVic pupil residence with 2 dorm-mates.

The coroner's inquest into her death, which began May 5, heard that contempt 2 of the 3 students falling unconscious and turning blue, field information officers with archetypal assistance and naloxone grooming didn't administer the opioid-reversing cause until 9 minutes aft they arrived, and didn't commencement CPR for different 3 minutes aft that.

The 911 telephone besides faced scrutiny during the inquest, starting with the B.C. Ambulance call-taker taking the archetypal 3 ½ minutes of the exigency telephone to find the determination of the Sir Arthur Currie pupil residence connected campus.

WATCH | Coroner's assemblage calls for enactment connected aggregate fronts:

Coroner's inquest into UVic student's overdose decease issues findings

A coroner's inquest into the overdose decease of 18-year-old UVic pupil Sidney McIntyre-Starko released its findings Thursday. The inquest assemblage is calling for enactment astatine galore levels, from authorities ministries and the assemblage to 911 dispatchers. Karin Larsen has the details.

Lifesaving archetypal assistance was besides delayed due to the fact that the pupil who called 911 did not instantly uncover to the 911 relation oregon to field information that she and her friends had taken drugs. That pupil told the inquest it was due to the fact that she was acrophobic of getting successful trouble.

The inquest besides heard grounds astir the bundle utilized by the 911 operator. With the 2 unconscious students reported arsenic turning bluish and having seizures, the bundle enactment the 911 relation into the system's seizure protocol, which directed the 911 relation to inquire if the unconscious students were large oregon had encephalon tumours, among different conditions.

Since B.C. declared toxic drugs a nationalist wellness exigency successful 2016, implicit 16,000 radical person died of overdoses.

The B.C. Coroners Service says unregulated cause toxicity is the starring origin of decease successful the state for persons aged 10 to 59, accounting for much deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents and earthy causes combined.

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