Inquiry into death of Mikisew baby wraps up

Page 10

A four-day fatality inquiry into the death of a 13-month-old Mikisew Cree First Nation boy wrapped up at Edmonton's provincial court on June 14 with emotional testimony from his parents.

Skylar Waquan died on Aug. 16 1996, after being diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis. The disease attacks and kills body tissue, and can be likened to the flesh-eating disease.

Skylar died in the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, less than one month after what his parents had been told was routine, elective surgery to fix an umbilical hernia. Skylar had the hernia operation at Northern Lights Regional Health Centre in Fort McMurray, Alta.

Parents Edwin Waquan and Angela Watling initially took Skylar to the hospital for mosquito bite creme. As a doctor examined the bites, he noticed a hole near the child's navel and said minor surgery could fix it.

Following the operation to correct the hernia, the boy was brought back to the hospital three times. He was suffering from pain, nausea, and swelling in his stomach area. It wasn't until the third visit back that doctors realized something was gravely wrong with the boy.

A dozen doctors gave testimony at the fatality inquiry, each detailing their association with the boy and his illness.

Lawyers for the family were asking if earlier detection of the infection could have saved Skylar's life.

Dr. David Reid, a physician on rotation from the Misericordia Hospital in Edmonton to the Fort McMurray health centre, first saw Skylar on July 28, three days after the hernia operation.

He told the inquiry he was concerned with the boy's condition and believed that it was an infection. He told court that antibiotics were not prescribed because tests on the boy had not come back and the doctor didn't want to make things any worse.

Dr. Ari Joffe, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University Hospital, said earlier detection of the disease would have been difficult, because all the symptoms were "very non-specific," and could have been due to any number of things.

To come up with necrotizing fasciitis at that stage would have been a long-shot, he said.

"In the intensive care unit (at the University Hospital) we only see a case every year or two of severe fasciitis," he told the inquiry. "Its rarity is what makes it so difficult to diagnose."

Throughout the testimony, Waquan and Watling sat in court listening, and sometimes weeping as evidence was given.

At one point during the third day of the inquiry, Watling took out some photographs of her little boy taken just days before his first operation. Staring for a long time at a picture, she gently kissed the image's face and put the photo back into an envelope.

It wasn't until the final day that the emotions and frustrations of the parents really came to the fore.

Between sobs, with his head hung down and his long hair covering his face, Waquan told the inquiry he had trusted the doctors with his child.

"These people said they were going to fix my baby. I never, ever thought this was going to happen."

Waquan told the court it had all been too much to handle. As his tears turned into sobs, it seemed that re-living the last few weeks of his son's life for the inquiry was also taking its toll.

Waquan carried on with difficulty as he detailed the plans to transfer his son from Fort McMurray to Edmonton. By the time Skylar arrived in Edmonton, however, the infection had progressed too far and too fast.

Doctors there could only monitor the little boy. He was hooked up to machines and it was only a matter of time before the parents were told to expect the worst. A decision was made to take Skylar off of life support.

"I felt so sorry for my baby, because I would never see him and would never do anything with him again," he said.

His testimony had an emotional impact on courtroom spectators.

Family, friends, members of the media, and the court reporter had to wipe tears from their eyes.

"I told them I didn't want him to de in a hospital. He likes it outside," Waquan said.

After disconnecting the boy from a battery of machines, tubes and wires, hospital staff let the parents take their son outside.

"I was just rubbing my baby's head," Waquan mumbled through sobs. "My baby is dead now. My baby is dead," he quietly said.

Angela Watling cried as Waquan completed his testimony. She told court the whole ordeal has been a roller-coaster ride of emotions. In the early stages, doctors could only offer suggestions, she said, but no one had any answers.

Initially, doctors feared Skylar had meningitis. Tests were performed, including two spinal taps.

"They told me that he didn't have meningitis and I was very relieved, because I knew that meningitis could be fatal and I was very worried," she told the inquiry.

She said doctors then cut open her son again to see if it was a problem with the surgery.

"They told me it was good news. Good news. They didn't find anything ruptured. They found infection," she said, shaking a little behind the witness bench.

Still, no one knew what the infection was. It wasn't until the baby was transferred to Edmonton that the family began to get answers.

Both parents praised the staff at the University Hospital for the effort made in keeping Skylar alive for as long as possible.

Following the inquiry, Watling said she wouldn't set foot in the Fort McMurray hospital again.

"If one of our other kids gets sick, wherever I am, we'll be heading down to Edmonton," she said.

The inquiry was held after the family and the Mikisew Cree First Nation urged the Alberta Justice department to examine the death. The inquiry does not place blame, it only determines a cause of death and can make recommendations to avoid similar circumstances happening again.

Judge Larry Nemirsky will make final recommendations to the Alberta Justice department and the Solicitor General's office. There was no date given on when the recommendations would be made. It could take up to two months