The mother of a 17-year-old who suffered a drug overdose at Kilburn Hall in Saskatoon is seeking $30,000 in damages from the Saskatchewan government and a Saskatoon ambulance service.
The teen – whose name can’t be published due to a publication ban – overdosed on methamphetamine while he was custody and died on July 30, 2015.
He’d been arrested roughly four days earlier for allegedly breaching a community supervision order.
According to a statement of claim filed last week, the teen’s relatives “have lost the guidance, care and companionship of a close family member with whom they had a loving, caring and giving relationship.”
Prior to his death, the inmate notified Kilburn staff that he was overdosing and needed medical help, according to the court document.
The teen had made similar statements in the past and detention centre officials made a decision to monitor him, the plaintiff alleged.
During a 2017 inquest, a jury heard how the teen had meth stashed in his body.
The provincial staff should have known the teen was continuing to use drugs while in custody and needed medical help, the statement of claim said.
The Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice had not been served with the claim as of Wednesday afternoon and was “unaware of the allegations contained within it,” spokesperson Drew Wilby said in a statement.
“As the matter is apparently before the court, we will not be commenting at this time,” Wilby said.
MD Ambulance, now branded as Medavie Health Services, is accused of negligence as well and should have known the teen was suffering a drug overdose and certain medications could cause cardiac arrest, the plaintiff stated.
“As a result of MD’s negligence, in breach of its duty, the deceased went into cardiac arrest and was killed,” the document said.
A Medavie Health Services spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
The teen’s mother is seeking $30,000 – damages for grief and loss of the guidance, care and companionship of the deceased, along with special, punitive and aggravated damages to be determined at trial.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
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