Minister to review ‘perverse’ privacy law
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 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, after going out on 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 information.
“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,” Brock Eurchuk said.
He said he does not hold any individual minister or doctor fully to blame but points 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 parents.
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.
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,” said Darcy.