FAMILY SUES OVER METH OVERDOSE

Biggar residents hope lawsuit will send message to drug dealers

BIGGAR -- Staring at a photo of her then-19-year-old daughter lying
lifeless in a hospital bed, tubes snaking out from her body, her
organs shutting down and heart barely pumping, Georgina Bergen says
the image doesn't disturb her anymore. "I've got her sitting beside me
on the couch," she said, patting the plump, tan sofa beside her.

The Biggar woman, her husband Stan and daughter Sandra are suing the
man they allege sold the crystal meth that led to their daughter's
near-fatal overdose, landing her at death's door last spring.

"The regular justice system can't hold these meth dealers accountable
for the lives that they are taking and kids that they are killing,"
Georgina said.

"The lawsuit is to make dealers responsible for their actions," she
said. "They know they are selling a dangerous drug, they know what
they are doing to the people they are selling it to so how can they
justify selling it when you're killing people with it?"

The statement of claim, fi led Tuesday in Biggar, seeks compensation
from a man, his grandmother and an unnamed person, "John Doe."

Allegations in the claim have not been proven in court and a statement
of defence has not been fi led.

Sandra Bergen slipped into a coma hours after overdosing on
methamphetamine late one May evening.

"It felt like somebody had stabbed a pencil into my temple and right
into my brain," she said, recalling the moments after smoking the drug.

Sandra felt strange. She began sweating profusely, her clothes were
soon soaking wet, and she began vomiting.

She went into the bathroom and began coughing blood, fi guring she had
damaged her lungs. She waited until several hours later before heading
home to retrieve $40 for the dealer. When she returned home her legs
and arms began turning blue. Her mother took her to a doctor and she
was sent to a hospital in Biggar. Tests revealed Sandra had a heart
attack.

She was taken to Royal University Hospital where she slipped into a
coma hours later, her heart functioning at seven per cent capacity.

Doctors had told her parents she wouldn't make it through the night,
but she miraculously recovered and was released from hospital days
later, her heart now functioning at 58 per cent.

The lawsuit claims the male defendant knowingly sold the drug, which
he knew was "highly addictive and harmful" to the young woman.

The claim says "such sale by (the man) was for the purpose of making
money, but was also for the purpose of intentionally infl icting
physical and mental suffering on Sandra."

The man's grandmother was aware that he was in possession of crystal
meth and that he used her house to store the drug and sell it to
Sandra and others, the claim says.

The defendants could not be reached for comment Friday.

Also named in the statement of claim is "John Doe," who the plaintiffs
allege supplied the drugs to the defendant. The claim says when John
Doe's identity is known, the plaintiffs will ask the court to have the
name added to the lawsuit.

The Bergens are seeking general damages in excess of $50,000, special
damages, any amount the Saskatchewan Medical Services plan may pay or
has paid on behalf of the family for Sandra's treatment, aggravated
and punitive damages and costs associated with the lawsuit.

But for Sandra, the lawsuit is not about the compensation. Today the
21-year-old gets too tired to work a normal job and may not be able to
have children because of her weak heart, she said.

"I am doing this just because I feel like the justice system works
slow. It works, but it works slowly. I have no control over what
happens there," Sandra said. "This way I have my own lawyers
representing me and we can question him. In a criminal court he
doesn't have to take a stand and I never get any closure over this."

Stuart Busse, the Bergen's lawyer, said the case is based on a old law
- -- negligent action -- but what is "unusual about it is the activity
of the person we are suing," he said.

He hopes the court will fi nd the personal harm and anguish suffered
by the parents as they stood by their daughter a foreseeable thing
that the drug dealer should have anticipated and have to pay for,
thereby setting a precedent.

"The idea then with the precedent . . . at some point in time maybe
somebody else's child will die so there is no compensation to be
claimed for the child but the parents can go after the dealer,
supplier and sue them in civil court to get judgment against them," he
said.

Also, is the idea that there are long-term negative financial
consequences for the seller or anybody else who helps a dealer.