CORONER TO PROBE METHADONE OVERDOSE

Ottawa Man Given Wrong Dose At Clinic 'We Want To Prevent Similar Deaths'

The death of an Ottawa man who was given 10 times the dose of an
addiction medication will be probed by a coroner's inquest.

"We want to know how Wade Hatt got this inaccurate dose so we can
assess the safety of the methadone program at that clinic and other
clinics in Ontario," said deputy chief Ontario coroner Jim Cairns.

The Hatt case was brought to light by an ongoing Toronto Star
investigation into the province's methadone program and the Ontario
Addiction Treatment Centres (OATC), the largest chain of drug
treatment clinics in Ontario. OATC serves more than one-third of
Ontario's methadone patients, with 23 clinics across the province.

Hatt, 41, was a patient of OATC. A night shift deliveryman determined
to beat a drug addiction, Hatt regularly took a dose of the synthetic
narcotic with the hope it would help wean him off the prescription
painkillers. Last October, staff at the OATC Ottawa office mistakenly
gave Hatt a 150-milligram dose of the orange-flavoured drink. His
dose was 15 milligrams.

Although normal protocol -- including that posted on OATC's website
- -- states that overdose victims are to be sent to hospital, Hatt was
told by clinic staff to go home and watch for unusual drowsiness. He
died the next morning.

"We want to prevent similar deaths at methadone clinics," said Cairns.

No date has been set, but the Hatt inquest will examine key issues,
such as whether nurses and staff members should be allowed to
administer drugs without a doctor or pharmacist present. In the
interim, OATC clinics have been reminded by the coroner's office to
send suspected overdose patients to emergency.

The coroner's office is also reviewing the death of another OATC
patient who died after being subjected to "rapid detox," a method for
quickly removing drugs from a person's system while they are under anesthetic.

A decision on whether to call an inquest in that case will be made by
the end of this month.

Meanwhile, provincial Health Minister George Smitherman has ordered a
task force to review the provincial methadone program. From 300
mainly heroin addicts in 1996, the program has grown to include
14,000 people who get daily doses of the synthetic drug.

Smitherman, who this week revealed he was once addicted to drugs,
said when he called the task force that he wanted methadone to be
provided in a "safe and effective way."