ALTA. MEDICAL REGULATORS FIND POPULAR DOCTOR'S CARE "GROSSLY INCOMPETENT"

EDMONTON - A popular small-town Alberta doctor has resigned and been struck
from the province's medical register after an investigation found he
provided "grossly incompetent" care to a man who died of a drug overdose.

The Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons, who conducted the inquiry,
has refused to discuss the resignation of Dr. Dan Toliver, 52. But a copy
of the report obtained by the Edmonton Journal paints a disturbing picture
of Toliver's role in the 1999 death of Eddy Sorensen, a 32-year-old Tofield
man.

It says Toliver vastly over-prescribed anti-depressants and powerful
painkillers such as Tylenol 3 and Tylenol 4 for Sorensen. Sorensen was
brain-damaged by carbon monoxide poisoning in a 1991 worksite accident and
was receiving worker's compensation.

Between 1994 and 1997, the report - addressed to Sorensen's mother Joyce -
says Toliver prescribed the anti-depressant Alprazolam in amounts up to 11
times the recommended adult dose.

Sorensen also received 600 tablets of Tylenol 4 in April 1996 and 800
tablets the following month. By June he was consuming the tablets at the
rate of 100 over two or three days for back pain - although Toliver's chart
showed Sorensen had a normal range of motion.

"It was our reviewer's opinion that the medications selected to treat Eddy
were not justified and in fact appeared to be responsible for many of
Eddy's clinical difficulties," the report said.

"It was our reviewer's opinion that considering Dr. Toliver's prescribing
to your son, the outcome could not be anything other than your son's death."

The report also criticized Toliver's record-keeping.

Dr. Don Chadsey, assistant registrar of the college, said provincial
legislation prevents him from explaining why Toliver was allowed to keep
practicing for five years after Joyce Sorensen laid a complaint against him.

The report does say the college unsuccessfully tried to persuade Toliver to
resign in 1999, about a year after receiving Joyce Sorensen's complaint.

Toliver was a popular doctor in Tofield, a town of about 1,800 people 60
kilometres east of Edmonton. He had the largest practice of the three
doctors in town.

Patients have demanded to know why Toliver was forced to resign. In July,
staff from his clinic collected 900 names on a petition in his support.