Jury recommends new laws at inquest into death of developmentally disabled Hamilton man

WATCH ABOVE: A coroner’s inquest jury has called for sweeping changes after the death of man who was developmentally disabled. Guy Mitchell was found dead in a water tank in April 2012 and was found to have lived in deplorable conditions. Christina Stevens reports.

TORONTO — The coroner’s inquest into the death of a developmentally disabled Hamilton man has led to recommendations from the jury that call for new laws to protect vulnerable adults to prevent similar deaths.

Guy Mitchell, 38, was found dead in a water tank at a group home on April 29, 2012 in Hamilton just days after a social worker had visited the property and given it a passing grade.

Mitchell had been living in a group home and the inquest was called in order to examine the events surrounding his death.

The jury made 16 recommendations in total and called for the creation of separate adult protection legislation in the province, which would include an obligation to mandatory report all suspected cases of abuse or neglect.

“You can have legislation, you can have regulation, you can have policies and directives, but they’re meaningless if the people to whom they’re directed don’t fully understand them or comprehend what their obligations are,” said Crown Prosecutor Karen Shea.

“So, let’s face it, the conditions, the manner in which Guy died was horrible and the conditions in which he was living are deplorable but all we can hope is that by this jury with these recommendations, the government’s going to have a really solid foundation necessary to make the changes necessary to protect people like Guy and to prevent deaths.”

Dr. Helena Jaczek, Ontario Minister of Community and Social Services, said she knows “Michell deserved better.”

“I take the safety and security of individuals with developmental disabilities very seriously, which is why I am grateful to the jury for their extensive work and appreciate their thoughtful recommendations. My ministry will carefully consider each of them,” she said in a statement.

“We welcome the recommendations to establish working groups within the developmental services sector, and we will move immediately to do so.”

The jury also called for the establishment of a provincial advocate for the protection of adults with developmental disabilities, much like what is already in place with children.

“There’s something out there for vulnerable children, there’s something out there for vulnerable animals but there wasn’t the same equivalent for vulnerable adults,” said Shea.

“To think that anyone would be living in that type of condition in a home in which they were supposed to have a secure and safe environment it was just absolutely horrible.”

The jury has made the recommendations to the Ministry of Community and Social Services, the Ministry of the Attorney General and the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee and the province of Ontario.

“The entire inquest was tremendously challenging from a variety of standpoints, the living conditions were so difficult, the death so tragic, that everyone in the courtroom couldn’t help but be moved, troubled and concerned on an ongoing basis,” said Jeffrey Manishen, the lawyer for Choices, the non-profit agency responsible for Guy’s care.

“So then you say, ‘What can you do, apart from mourning?’ You change. And that’s what Choices was committed to doing literally, certainly from the day this happened and the months before then.”