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CCNA BETTER NEWSPAPERS COMPETITION 2 0 0 0 www.oakvillebeaver.com T he Oakville custom upholstery ltd. baier's For the finest in CUSTOM UPHOLSTERING call Baier's. M ak e rs o f fine upholstered furniture. 2333 Wvecroft Road, Unit 7 OVT ihavwcn BmnteA Thial Une) 0 « I * « U 0 1 o l f s a b la st fo r R id g e s t u d e n t S po rts M S W alk fo r fu n d s & fu n ! Focus -M e rc e d e s -B e n z A Metroland Publication Vol. 39 No. 49 | WEDNESDA£APRI^5i 2001 J u r y fin d s d r u g ju s t o n e fa c to r in V a n e s s a Y o u n g 's d e a th Te e n 's fa th e r s ile n t fo llo w in g l is t o f 59 rec o m m end ations made to e n su re s im ila r tragedy w o n 't happen again By Howard Mozel OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The coroner's jury into the death o f Vanessa Young has ruled that several fac tors - not only the drug she had been prescribed - was responsible for her death. The cause, said the jury, was "acute hypoxic/ischem ic encephalopathy due to cardiac arrhythm ia follow ed by car diac arrest resulting from the effects o f Bulim ia N ervosa in conjunction with C isapride toxicity and possibly an unknow n co-factor such as congenital cardiac defect." The four-m em ber panel also offered 59 com prehensive recom m endations designed to prevent sim ilar deaths from occurring in the future. Young family attorney Gary Will said that he is "very satisfied" by the "w o n d erfu l" recom m endations and said that the jury took its responsibility very seriously. He added that if these findings had been im plem ented years ago, Vanessa would still be alive. W hat happens now as a result o f the recom mendations, Will added, depends on Health C anada and the pharm aceutical industry. Terence Young, V anessa's father, declined to comment. Young - a G rade 10 student at Oakville-Trafalgar High School who had been talcing Cisapride (known as Prepulsid in Canada) off and on since 1999 - died on March 19, 2000 after her heart stopped the night before while she was at home. Lawyers for Cisapride m anufacturer Janssen-O rtho have p ostulated that excessive vom iting from bulim ia could cause an electrolyte im balance - partic ularly in potassium - w hich could have triggered Young's cardiac arrhythm ia and heart attack. O ne doctor testified that Young could have also had an undiagnosed cardiac electrical abnor m ality - a theory the jury plainly con sidered. O f the lengthy list o f recom m enda tions, W ill pointed to a couple w hich he said are particularly important. O ne of these called for the creation o f a joint body to exam ine and ultim ately improve the efficacy o f the inform ation delivery system used to gather and dis sem inate drug-related inform ation and warnings. This body should be com prised o f everyone from H ealth Canada, provin cial M inistries o f H ealth and the College o f Physicians and Surgeons to pharm aceutical com panies and co n sum er interest groups. Its findings should be reported to the C oroner's Office in one year. W ill was also pleased that the jury recom m ended that pharm aceutical W endy A rnott: counsel for JanssenO rtho com panies com m it to ensuring that "post m arketing adverse inform ation be as effectively com m unicated to the health care profession as the initial product m arketing or advertising infor mation." In its accom pany rationale, the jury said this recom m endation was based on evidence that drug com panies "spend a great deal more money on prom oting products than it does on post-m arketing adverse inform ation." O ther recom m endations called for the m andatory reporting o f serious adverse drug reactions by health pro fessionals to Health Canada w ithin 48 hours; for physicians to com puterize their practices to ensure quick access to patient records; for Health Canada to develop a "clear, concise and easily understood" tem plate for drug inform a tion sheets for patients; that the phar m aceutical industry be "im m inently responsive to all safety issues or con cerns as . >on as they arise" and ensure this inform ation reaches health care professionals and the public "as quick ly as possible." A sked w hether he believes the drug regulatory system will change as a result o f the inquest. W ill said im prove m ent will be a long-term process and that more investigation is required to do the entire Cisapride affair justice. (See `Findings' page A8) Photo by Riziero Vertolli Terence Young, father o f Vanessa Young, outside H am ilton courthouse yesterday follow ing the release o f a list o f recom m endations from an inquest ju ry that looked into his teen a g er's death. Mayor wants GTSB to replace Region By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The G reater Toronto Service Board (GTSB) took an historic step towards defining its pow ers last w eek, but where it goes from there rem ains to be seen. Three o f Flalton's representatives on the GTSB have varying viewpoints on what role the board should play and w hat pow ers it should wield. O akville M ayor A nn M ulvale believes the GTSB could eventually replace regional government. "This is an evolution. That could logically take place," she said. Ward 3 Regional Councillor Keith Bird worries it may pose a threat to municipal government. "I d o n 't think this bodes well for the Region (of Halton) and it may in time affect the local municipality," said Bird. H alton regional ch air Joyce Savoline isn't running scared. `T h is is not the tim e to take away regional government. I'm not saying it w on't ever be gone, but this is not the tim e," said Savoline, noting the Region has key relationships with municipal and provincial governments. O ne thing is sure. M ost GTA politi cians believe they can only win against the province -- and grow th -- with a unified front: the GTSB. "The co-ordination o f dealing with issues such as transportation planning and transit is very important, but I don't believe the pow ers being asked for by (See `Transportation' page A8) C a u s e o f h o u s e fir e still u n k n o w n The cause of a M arch 28 fire that lev eled an Ennisclare Drive home remains under investigation by the Ontario Fire Marshal's Office. According to Deputy Fire Chief John de Hooge, the cause at present remains listed as "undetermined," while samples taken from the house undergo forensic testing. The home was burned to the ground after a huge three-alarm fire - the second in two years - ravaged the entire struc ture. The origin o f the first fire - which occurred on September 23, 1999, result ing in $75,000 in damages - was believed to be electrical in nature, although de Hooge says this remains inconclusive. In March, the hom e was undergoing renovations and was only weeks away from occupancy." Damage for that fire has been pegged at approxim ately $750,000. The home had a pool in the basement and a special four-car garage equipped with a hydraulic lift. Three vehicles - two luxury cars and a pickup - were also destroyed. M a cL a ch la n C ollege c h a lle n g in g test re su lts By Kim A rn o tt SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER A p restig io u s O ak v ille private school is challenging the results o f a province-w ide study that ranked it am ong the w orst o f O n tario high schools. M acL achlan C ollege w as nam ed as the 492nd best high school in the province, and given a score o f 4.3 out o f 10 in the recently-released study. T he study, w hich provided an acad em ic ranking o f 568 schools w as con ducted by the F raser Institute and pub lish ed in the N atio n al P ost last W ednesday. Fraser Institute says poor results could be caused by Education M inistry errors A fterw ards, the O akville private school issued a press release express ing disbelief in the stu d y 's findings and the school's. It added that the study "grossly m isrepresents the qual ity o f M acL achlan's academ ic pro gram m e." A udrey H adfield , fo u n d er and executive director o f the Trafalgar Road school, said M acLachlan has hired an independent research agency to exam ine the student data used in the study. She said prelim inary results have suggested the Fraser Institute ranking is incorrect, and the school hopes to have m ore com plete results w ithin the next few days. T he school has also retained a lawyer, w hose rple at this point is sim ply to provide advice. "We haven't m ade any decision on any route to go, yet," said H adfield, who added that the school's adm irers sim ply d o n 't believe the results are accurate. "Parents have been very support ive. I think they ca n 't believe that this is w hat describes M acL achlan C ollege and th at's also w hat our colleagues are saying -- there m ust be som ething w rong," she added. Peter Cow ley, author o f the report and the director o f school perform ance studies for the F raser Institute, said it is possible an error in the data collect ed from the provincial M inistry o f E ducation could have caused an inac curate result. "W e're alw ays interested in ensur ing the data is correct," he said. 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