Inquest jury recommends change to drug advisory

SASKATOON The coroner’s jury in the death of Kevin Ryan Umpherville made just one recommendation, which they directed to Alberta-based Poison and Drug Information Services (PADIS).

They recommended that PADIS tell a questioner about the care required in relation to all drugs involved in the case.

“The Poison and Drug Information Service database should notify the querier when a directly related drug has a recommendation for more intensive care than the drug queried,” they wrote.

The jury found Umpherville, 22, died at Royal University Hospital on Jan. 15, 2016 from acute pneumonia after an accidental overdose of methadone Dec. 30, 2015 at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre.

An emergency room physician told the jury he had phoned PADIS, according to protocol, to find out what care should be provided after the methadone overdose, when the patient had been revived using the naloxone. Umpherville was alert and showed no signs of narcotic use.

PADIS advised the doctor to keep the patient under supervision for six hours after the last dose of naloxone, but did not make clear that the patient should be monitored for 24 hours after ingesting the methadone, which can remain active in the body for 24 hours.

As a result, Umpherville was sent back to the jail about 9:30 p.m., about 13 hours after the overdose. He was found unresponsive the next morning and couldn’t be revived. He remained on life support for two weeks.

Umpherville’s older brother, Josh Munroe, attended the inquiry. He remembered Umpherville as a fun loving, hardworking young man who loved to play football.

“He was a friendly guy, athletic, loved to play sports. Everybody loved to be around him. He liked to make you laugh, joke around. He was a people person,” Munroe said.

Umpherville liked to party but he didn’t use hard drugs, Munroe said, so he was surprised to hear his brother had taken the deadly dose of methadone from another inmate.