METHADONE VICTIM'S FAMILY SUES CLINIC, DOCTORS

Parents of a man who died of a methadone overdose administered by
accident at a downtown addiction treatment clinic are seeking a
half-million dollars in damages in a lawsuit.

The statement of claim filed April 24 by Linda and Douglas Hatt, and
on behalf of their son Wade Lamont Hatt, names as defendants the
Ontario Addiction Treatment Centres and a number of doctors and nurses
connected with the centre.

Hatt died Oct. 15, 2005 after attending the OATC methadone clinic on
Somerset St. with his girlfriend. The statement of claim alleges
negligence on the part of the OATC for among other things "failing to
implement a protocol at the clinic which was effective to minimize the
risk of dispensing the wrong dose to a patient," and "failing to
require that the methadone be dispensed by a licenced pharmacist
and/or by a medical doctor who had received special training in
dispensing methadone."

Statements of claim contain allegations which have not been proven in
court.

A coroner's inquest into the incident heard that Hatt died after
mistakenly taking his girlfriend Julie Maloney's 10-times-stronger
dose of methadone during a trip to the Centretown clinic.

Despite being advised that he should seek medical attention, Hatt
chose not to go to hospital and died in his sleep at home.

At the inquest, lawyers for the OATC argued cocaine use may have
played a role in killing Hatt, but the jury did not list cocaine as a
cause of Hatt's death.

Recurring themes in the jury recommendations following the inquest
were measures to ensure patient's methadone doses aren't mixed up and
the need to strongly communicate to patients the need for medical attention.

Many of those recommended measures appear to form the basis of
allegations of negligence in the statement of claim.

No defence has yet been filed.