Pubdate: Wed, 30 May 2007
Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
Copyright: 2007 The Leader-Post Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/regina/leaderpost/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361
Author: Betty Ann Adam, Saskatchewan News Network

COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN LED TO MORPHINE OVERDOSE

SASKATOON -- Nobody told an emergency ward doctor that two police 
officers had seen a man swallow about 100 morphine pills or that he 
had asked them to shoot him, the doctor told a coroner's inquest Tuesday.

Dr. Paul Gartner treated Wayne Allen Strandquist, 45, at St. Paul's 
Hospital on New Year's Day 2006 and released him into police custody 
without ever learning that there were eye witnesses to contradict 
Strandquist's claim he had only taken six prescribed tablets for back pain.

Strandquist died in police cells about five hours later apparently 
from a morphine over dose.

The inquest is trying to sort out how the communication break down occurred.

Strandquist had been arrested following a domestic dispute and a 
stand off with police, during which he had threatened two constables 
with a sword and they had drawn their pistols.

Strandquist had eaten the pills as he kept the officers at bay and 
had told them repeatedly to shoot him.

One of the officers called for an ambulance because of the pills.

Police used pepper spray and finally tackled Strandquist. Those who 
saw him take the pills did not go to the hospital with him.

One of the constables said he told an ambulance attendant he had seen 
Strandquist take the pills but it is not yet clear which attendant 
that was or if he or she informed his or her colleague or anybody at 
the hospital.

One of the paramedics informed hospital staff that Strandquist's 
common law wife had said he had taken about 100 morphine pills. 
Strandquist denied taking an over dose and said his wife was drunk 
and was trying to get him in trouble, Gartner said.

Gartner said he had no other information to suggest Strandquist was suicidal.

There is no record of two different police officers, who brought 
Strandquist to the hospital, contradicting him, Gartner said.

The incident was unusual in that police patients are usually brought 
in by the same officers involved in the arrest and it is uncommon for 
police to have medically relevant information, Gartner said.

Gartner said he asked what happened and expected that if police or 
paramedics had medically relevant information they would have told him.

Because there was a possibility of drug overdose, Gartner 
administered charcoal to prevent absorption, he said.

If he had known for sure that Strandquist had taken about 100 pills, 
however, he would also have sent the patient to the psychiatrist on 
call at Royal University Hospital (RUH) and had that hospital monitor 
him for effects of narcotic overdose so that an antidote could have 
been administered when appropriate, Gartner said.

Instead, Strandquist was released about two or two-and-a-half hours 
after arriving at St. Paul's. He did not exhibit signs of drug 
overdose at that time, Gartner said.

Gartner said he didn't recognize Strandquist as a patient he had 
treated about four years earlier for a morphine over dose following 
an incident with police. Gartner had saved Strandquist's life the 
first time, the inquest heard.

Strandquist was found not breathing and unresponsive in police cells 
shortly before 6 a.m. Jan. 2, 2006, and could not be revived, said 
Dr. John Froh, who attempted resuscitation at RUH.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman