Sidney McIntyre-Starko’s mother, the 18-year-old who died of a fentanyl overdose in a bedroom of the University of Victoria last year, gave a heartbreaking and pointed testimony on day one of the investigation of the forensic in the death of her daughter.
Dr. Caroline McIntyre said the University “lied” and published a “completely false” timeline on the night when her daughter died in January 2024.
McIntyre, a doctor from the emergency room, said in spite of stating the opposite, the university never contacted the Royal Jubilee Hospital to identify Sidney after they took her there in ambulance.
Instead, his daughter appeared as an unidentified person during the time, the emergency room staff tried to save his life.
“I didn’t get there,” said McIntyre. “I was not identified, alone and in a fan.”
McIntyre said he gave the time of time director of the campus to correct the response record published by the University.
“This investigation is celebrated mainly because my daughter stayed for 15 minutes to die while the security of the campus sat down there with Narcan,” he said.
McIntyre’s testimony was interrupted several times by the coroner by presiding over Larry Marzinzik, who at one time asked her and her legal advisor to avoid speculation.
An independent report At the beginning of this month he discovered that McIntyre-Starko “probably would not have died” if the university’s response would have been better.
He said that the security officers who responded did not identify overdose and took too long to administer nasal naloxone to reverse the toxic drug.
According to the report, McIntyre-Starko had never tried the unregulated street drugs before the night and two first-year partners snorted a dust that contained a mixture of cocaine and fentanyl.
The other two students also suffered an overdose with McIntyre-Starko, but were revived. Both testified the first day of the investigation. Their names are protected by a publication prohibition.
One of the students identified a photo of a vial of powdered gray substance that is shown as an exhibition like the drug they took.
She said she and Sidney found the vial at the bottom of a box of coolers who had given them and decided to take drugs together the next day. She said she tried to search Google what the drug was, and heroin or opioids emerged.
“There was not much discussion. It was like, yes, let’s do it,” he said. “We think, it can’t be bad. That was the thought process.”
McIntyre told research that his work as a doctor in the emergency room meant that Sidney was “well informed” about the toxic drug crisis.
She said in retrospect, she would like to have spoken with her daughter more directly about drug protection and Narcan.
“It’s my life imprisonment, right? What else could I have done for my son?”
The investigation was convened last year after the news of Mcintryo-Starko’s death caused a public protest.
McIntyre told the court of Coroner that his daughter was one of the more than 2,200 people who died of toxic drugs last year in BC.
“Twenty teenagers died [of toxic drugs] Last year, 24 of the previous year, 26 of the previous year. We haven’t done investigations for them and we should probably, “he said.
In response to the question of a jury, McIntyre explained that a fentanyl overdose will prevent a person from breathing. He said that in the absence of Narkcan, who gave an artificial breathing of the victim of overdose, also known as mouth -to -mouth compressions or CPR thorax, he will keep someone alive by forcing oxygen to his lungs.
She said that a person who does not breathe will suffer brain damage after about four minutes, with fatal heart damage that occurs shortly after.
The investigation will listen to the 36 -witness testimony for 10 days.
Forensic investigations do not assign guilt, but they are public consultations that aim to determine the circumstances surrounding a death.
At the end of the testimony, the Forensic Jury of five people will make non -binding recommendations to avoid similar deaths in the future.
