FOSTER MOM BATTLES B.C. IN HEP C CLAIM

Teresa Iezzi Says Province Didn't Tell Her Drug-Abusing Teen Had
Disease

The night of Feb. 4, 2001 began as a typical one for Burnaby foster
mom Teresa Iezzi, although events were to transpire that changed her
life.

Her house was packed with four or five high-risk teens, as part pf a
20-year contract with B.C.'s Ministry of Children and Family
Development.

Iezzi says she tried to create a warm environment for the vulnerable
youngsters.

"We specialized in Italian home cooking and lots of love," she
says.

But when Burnaby RCMP picked up a troubled teen identified as "MW" and
dropped her off late that night, it began a string of events that
ended up in B.C. Supreme Court.

Iezzi is suing the province for negligence after she accidentally
contracted the deadly hepatitis C disease from MW and her health was
severely affected.

The province says Iezzi's actions were negligent and the case should
be thrown out.

'She was crazy, wild'

When the ministry asked if it was all right for the RCMP to drop off
MW that fateful night, Iezzi said it would be OK.

"I never say no when they call me in an emergency," says Iezzi, now 67
and living in Chilliwack with family.

A bedroom was prepared downstairs and MW, 18, ate a little food when
she arrived.

"She was a mess. I don't like to talk about kids like that, but she
was a junkie," says Iezzi.

More details have come out about MW's background from court documents.
She was a "chronic runaway," had overdosed twice and suffered "severe
sexual abuse from her natural dad." MW soon went to bed, but the house
wasn't quiet for long.

After hearing someone banging against the walls, Iezzi rushed
downstairs. She found MW in a convulsed state from a heroin and
cocaine overdose. "She was crazy, wild," says Iezzi.

A needle was sticking out of MW's arm, and without thinking of her own
safety, Iezzi gave into her instincts as a caregiver.

"The last thing I was thinking about was the needle. We are all human
beings. I tried to help," she says.

In the confusion while calming the teenager down, Iezzi says, she
barely noticed the needle sticking out from her own leg.

Paramedics, police and fire personnel showed up, but MW refused to
leave Iezzi's care.

"I stayed up all night with her and took her to detox the next day,
but she ran away," says Iezzi. It was months before an unsuspecting
Iezzi learned she had hep C, a blood-borne disease that attacks the
liver, causing joint pain, dental problems, fatigue and sore muscles.
It can be fatal.

It took much longer to find out that the province already knew MW had
hep C when she arrived on Iezzi's doorstep.

Documents from 1999 show MW tested positive for hep C at a
government-run youth detention centre. Iezzi denies being told
beforehand about MW's serious ailment when she arrived late that night.

Her lawyer, Ian Waddell, a former MP and MLA, says the ministry was
"negligent." "I have the smoking gun," he says. Provincial counsel
Keith Johnston says the province does not concede the point that Iezzi
was not told.

He says Iezzi "knowingly accepted the risk" by permitting intravenous
drug users to come to her home. Provincial actions
'outrageous'

Iezzi's claim has been making its way through B.C. Supreme Court since
being filed in 2009.

It is scheduled to go to trial on Oct. 31, but earlier this year the
province asked for it to be thrown out on the basis that Iezzi took
more than two years to file her claim.

Justice Grant Burnyeat ruled against the province on Aug. 25, but his
decision is being appealed.

Waddell says Iezzi had good reasons to take so long: The province did
not disclose to her that it knew about MW's condition in 1999, despite
her repeated requests for information.

Court documents show ministry staff tried to persuade Iezzi several
times to agree to a $30,000 settlement after her foster contract was
suddenly cancelled in 2006.

Waddell calls the province's actions "outrageous."

"She gave them 23 years of her life. Are they ever going to settle?
This woman is now 67 and she's not all that well. She has nothing. It
seems so inhumane," he says.

Iezzi says hep C-related dental care has cost $40,000. She says
$60,000 was lost on the sale of her house after her foster contract
was cancelled and the family's mortgage payments vanished with it.
(The province cited financial reasons for letting her go, but Iezzi
believes it was related to MW.) Iezzi says she is still suffering. "I
have constant pain in my bones and muscles. I feel tired all the time.
You never know when the hep C is coming back," she says. "I am so
upset. It's horrible. I just want some justice. It's very stressful to
fight all this garbage."

Waddell says the case has implications for foster parents all over
B.C.

"They do a heck of a job. They're indispensable. They have no
representation, no insurance and no union," he says. 'She chose to
intervene'

The province admits "in all likelihood" Iezzi contracted the disease
from MW, but denies all her claims.

Johnston says Iezzi "knowingly" accepted children in her home who were
prone to "high risk activities."

"MW was highly agitated and emotionally unstable [when she arrived].
[Iezzi] witnessed the child administering illicit drugs intravenously
and notwithstanding the obvious risk, she chose to intervene," says
Johnston.

Iezzi's medical condition is disputed by the crown.

Johnston says she was "essentially cleared" of the hep C virus
following treatment in 2003-04, but admitted there is evidence she has
some "residual effects."

"This is a personal injury claim. The question is, who is responsible
for the fact she was infected with hep C?" he asks.

Waddell says Iezzi has felt the full weight of the crown. "We are up
against Goliath. Our opponents have very deep pockets," he says.

A spokesperson for the attorney-general's department, which is
defending the case, said it never comments on matters which are before
the courts.