The coroner’s inquest into the drug death of a University of Victoria student has gone to the jury after hearing more testimony about a controversial 911 call.
Sidney McIntyre-Starko was 18 years old when she died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in her dorm room in January 2024.
She and her friends had snorted a substance they’d found at the bottom of a box of coolers.
The inquest into her death was called after her parents went public with concerns over the response of UVic campus security and the length of time it took to give her naloxone and CPR.
One of the key questions in this inquest was if unnecessary delays with the call taker and the software used by B.C. Emergency Health Services contributed to McIntyre Starko’s death.
The founder of the software, Medical Priority Dispatch, Dr. Jeff Clawson, says in his 40 years of doing this work. this 911 call is among the most complex he has ever encountered.
The lawyers representing the McIntyre-Starko family have been challenging that narrative, pointing to critical parts of the 911 call that could have led the call taker down a different path, leading to much earlier use of CPR.
When McIntyre-Starko’s friend first called 911 she said her friends were having seizures, the computer system immediately flagged two people with seizures as an “unusual chief complaint.”
However, the inquest heard that the 911 call taker didn’t deviate from her mandatory questions about the seizures.
911: “OK, so what’s going on? What do you see?”
Student 2: “Um, they’re both just lying on their sides right now. Just on the ground and –”
911: “Are they pregnant or have they been pregnant in the past four weeks?”
Student 2: “No, no, no they haven’t.”
911: “Are they diabetic?”
Student 2: “Not that I’m aware of, no.”
911: “Are they an epileptic?”
Student 2: “No.”
Testimony in the inquest has now concluded and the jury has begun its deliberations.