B.C. Mental Health and Addictions Minister Judy Darcy says she will look into claims of a grieving Oak Bay couple who say a “perverse” provincial law blocked them from vital information about their son's drug use and his medical treatment plan.
"We will certainly be following up on that and that's part of what Island Health will be looking into and I certainly plan to reach out to the family - not to intrude on their grief, but to learn from their wisdom."
Elliot Eurchuk, 16, died in his Oak Bay home early Friday morning after taking street drugs his parents believe he was using to help him sleep.
Rachel Staples and Brock Eurchuk say their son's drug use started after he was prescribed opioids for four surgical procedures over the last two years, the results of serious sports-related injuries.
Then on Feb. 9, during a day-pass from Victoria General Hospital where he was recovering from a life-threatening infection, Elliot returned to hospital where he overdosed.
His parents demanded to know what drugs he had ingested. They were told the hospital must uphold their son's legal right to withhold his medical records, treatment plan and test results.
“I’m standing next to a bed that my son was found in, on the precipice of death, and no one is telling me what’s happened . . . "It's a perversion of what is right; what is common-sense right," said Eurchuk, on Sunday.
Eurchuk does not hold any individual minister or doctor fully to blame but points instead to a flawed system.
Staples said there are instances where a child may need confidentiality - accessing birth control, for instance - but that it is inconceivable to allow a child involved in at-risk behaviour to direct their own care and keep vital medical information from involved parents.
“He’s directing health care professionals while developing the illusion he can manage the habits forming around his self care,” said Eurchuk.
Island Health said similar to the B.C. Coroners Service, it will conduct a review of Elliot’s care at Island Health facilities. Darcy said the health authority will determine what changes could be made.
Mental Health and Addictions Opposition critic Jane Thornthwaite said she agrees with the parents and that there’s “no way” that a 16-year-old boy using street drugs “was in the right mind to make proper decisions” about his health care. She said the Liberals’ proposed Safe Care Act would have been an option for the parents to “rescue” their child and get a form of short-term custody to get him the immediate help he needed.
Island Health said it could not speak to provincial laws.
The B.C. Infants Act says children under 19 may consent to medical treatment under certain conditions: The child understands potential risks and benefits, and the health-care provider is sure the treatment is in the child's best interest. Eurchuk and Staples want the law changed.
Elliot, who was attending Mount Douglas Secondary School and Oak Bay High School before that, had two procedures on a jaw, which he broke in a soccer match, and two shoulder sugeries from a separate sports injury.
Darcy acknowledged the parents’ "courageous" act in speaking out so soon after "an unimaginable tragedy."
"I think everybody who has heard Elliot's story has been struck by their strength and their commitment to ensuring no other family has to suffer such a devastating loss which is quite remarkable," said Darcy.
"And for our ministry's part, we will continue to get the message out there about both the lack of safety of the drugs - the poisoned drugs on the street - that this can happen to anybody's family, and that we're going to continue to escalate our response in every way we possibly can to save lives," said Darcy.
For other parents worried about what to take from this tragedy, Eurchuk said that drug-awareness messaging to kids must be unequivocal and factual - not manipulative, coercive or exaggerated.
"When a person buys drugs on the streets they don't know what they are buying," said Eurchuk. "Counsellors say that, doctors say that, parents say that, adults say that and kids don't listen to it or believe it is accurate.
"Somehow adolescent kids need to understand and be schooled that that is a statement of fact," said Eurchuk.
"The other thing that needs to be drilled into kids, they have to repeat it to themselves: Don't use drugs alone. Don't experiment with drugs alone. You can't know what it is and you don't know how you'll react to it."
Throughout Elliot's years of excruciating pain, he grew knowledgeable about painkillers and how to self medicate to sleep.
"At this point standing where I am now I wish he wasn't that smart," said Eurchuk.
"He knew so much about chemistry and was so schooled in these drugs he fooled himself that he could manage this," said his father.
"He thought he had his own back. 'It's not going to happen to me.' And it happened."
