NEW LAW WOULD REMEMBER TEEN

Tierney Dietz died in a stranger's home March 1 of a drug overdose.
She was just 18 years old. Her death, shrouded by a series of
unanswered questions, is a tragedy on many levels, as articulated by
her grieving mother, Nancy Dean. The Star's Laura Stradiotto captured
their story in Saturday's Accent feature.

Tierney's death is first and foremost a testament to the dangers of
drug abuse. She battled her addictions and had made a real effort to
turn her life around. For awhile, she was clean and attending Cambrian
College.

But somewhere along the way, Tierney slipped and wound up in the
Lively home of a 47-year-old man who gave her and a friend cocaine.
Some time later, she went into convulsions. No one came to Tierney's
aid. Based on the story Dean has pieced together, it was another two
hours before her daughter's body was taken to hospital. By then, it
was too late.

Tierney's death, Dr. Chris Bourdon told The Star, was entirely
preventable, if someone had cared enough to just pick up the phone and
call 911. An ambulance station was just one kilometre away.

"If you look at the circumstances, I believe that this is something
that didn't have to happen," said Bourdon, medical director of the
emergency department of Sudbury Regional Hospital. "This is a
survivable event, if care and attention (was) provided to her
immediately."

For Dean, losing her daughter is bad enough. Knowing that Tierney
could have been easily saved is even harder for her to accept. All it
would have taken was a simple act of human decency.

"I'm just really shocked, as is everyone I know, that it's OK to see
someone in obvious medical distress and not do anything," Dean told
Stradiotto.

In fact, Canada has no law compelling us to help those in distress.
Unless you're trained to perform a medical intervention, you don't
have a legal obligation to help in a crisis, said Rosanna Langer, an
associate professor of law and justice at Laurentian University.

Maybe it's time for Canada to follow the lead of some European
countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands and France. There, people
have a legal duty to come to someone's aid if the person is in a
life-threatening situation and can be helped without danger to the
rescuer.

Such a law seems reasonable and, dare we say it, civilized. Most
Canadians would see it that way. Indeed, most of us would have helped
Tierney.

We shouldn't need such a law, but if we had one, then those who stood
around and watched Tierney die could have been held to account.
Perhaps they were too drunk or stoned to actually help, but as it
stands now, police can do nothing.

Of course, it has to be said that Tierney's decision to ingest cocaine
was her own, and it speaks to the havoc and heartache drug use can
cause. Deputy Police Chief Frank Elsner told The Star that cocaine use
in Greater Sudbury is on the rise due to strong economic times in the
city.

Elsner said gangs, mostly from the Toronto area, are bringing the
drugs to Sudbury. He said police are trying to discourage such
activity with raids and strict enforcement. "We're trying to prove to
them this is a terrible market."

It is an ongoing battle, but one worth fighting. Just ask Nancy Dean.