Tears shed as youth worker details PTSD after death

Friends, family, and a youth custody worker who was with Dylan LaChance when he died shed tears as they recounted the teen’s last day.

LaChance, 16, was held in Prince Albert’s Youth Residence (PAYR) for a week when staff noticed he was in a crisis health situation.

Terry Sinclair was working the night of Sept. 18, 2013 when he noticed the deaf teen was pale, sweating profusely, and shaking in his cell.

“His eyes said to me, ‘help me,’” Sinclair testified at the Coroner’s inquest into the teen’s death.

After Sinclair entered LaChance’s cell and looked the teen over he alerted supervisor Lee Penner, saying they needed to get LaChance to the hospital.

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His brother Skyler was in a nearby cell and soon yelled “Dylan’s puking!” according to Sinclair.

He told the jury Dylan was puking blood and soon after urinated himself.

Sinclair remained with Dylan to change his pants, stayed with him in ambulance, and in hospital.

In Prince Albert’s emergency room the two held a container as Dylan puked blood and both his heart rate and blood pressure rose.

Family was called in at this time.

Sinclair’s emotions came to the surface on Tuesday as he spoke about Dylan fighting to draw air as doctors and nurses cried while working to keep him alive.

After Dylan was pronounced dead, Sinclair went back to work, grabbed his lunch kit, went home and said “I haven’t been back since.”

He told the jury he was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder related to the incident.

Sinclair expressed remorse at the inquest, saying “I wish I could have done more.”

Family representative Angie Bear, who is not related to Dylan, commented as a mute and deaf teen the cell Dylan was held in “must have been a very lonely place.”

Sinclair nodded “yes” tearfully, saying he doesn’t think it’s fair someone with Dylan’s needs should be in a place without the resources to accommodate those needs.

The man who performed his autopsy detailed that Dylan died of acute bronchopneumonia.

Dylan may have developed the lung infection the day before or the day he died on Sept. 19, 2013, testified Dr. Shaun Ladham, the forensic pathologist behind the autopsy. An underlying viral infection played a part in making that process so quick.

Other testimony leaves questions

Where it gets confusing for Bear, the jury, and defence counsel is how the symptoms leading up to Sinclair’s plea for an ambulance were missed.

Testimony on Monday and Tuesday described Dylan as a teen with back pain, which he had indicated early on.

On Sept. 16 he was taken to a walk-in clinic with that pain.

Dr. Nico DeBeer saw him that day, but does not recall the specific visit. He testified based on notes he’d written that day, noting Dylan’s history of being kicked in the back was shared by the caregiver who brought Dylan in.

DeBeer did an X-Ray of Dylan’s back and noticed only soft tissue damage, prescribing an anti-inflammatory and to advising to ice his back.

DeBeer’s note also said he’d checked his lungs with a stethoscope and noticed nothing abnormal. If Dylan had pneumonia at the time his lungs would have made a “crackle” noise and bronchitis would present with a “wheeze” through the stethoscope, DeBeer said.

He did not take bloodwork, which may have revealed Dylan’s underlying conditions. DeBeer said this is because back pain would not require that.

In the days that followed Dylan presented symptoms that indicated something much more than back pain, according to numerous witnesses.

One of those was the case worker assigned to him, Karen Balan.

On Sept. 18, the night Dylan was taken to the emergency room, she worked from 2:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

In earlier days she printed pictures from the Internet for him to communicate with her, something she did after other staff mentioned how difficult communication was.

Balan noted throughout her shift his condition got more and more serious. When she first saw him he was in pain, but Balan attributed that to back pain from getting in and out of a van for his trip to court earlier in the day.

At 4:30 p.m., again he indicated he was in pain. Balan got him two Ibuprofen after supper, because he’d been given them earlier in the day and needed more time before he could have more.

In her cell checks, which happen every 15 minutes, Balan noticed by 7 p.m. Dylan was pale, shaking slightly and looked like he had a flu.

At 9 p.m., Balan noticed he was much worse. In her testimony she had to pause and apologize as she started to cry, saying through the cell window she watched Dylan hanging onto the wall, unable to walk to the toilet.

Balan testified at that point she spoke to numerous staff, all agreeing Dylan needed to go to the hospital. She then told her supervisor.

The rapid deterioration between 7 and 9 p.m. included him going from wincing in pain to whimpering while lying on his bed, shaking, and very pale, she said.

Supervisor Charlene Harasyn testified Dylan didn’t seem to be in distress or have labored breathing when she checked his cell.

Balan told the jury Harasyn checked in with the worker who took Dylan to the clinic. According to Balan, Harasyn decided to follow the doctor’s orders to give Dylan his medication.

“I wasn’t comfortable with it [the decision], truth be told. I didn’t agree,” Balan said.

She did add since then PAYR has changed protocol, so the decision to take a youth to hospital is no longer up to a supervisor. She explained if a youth requests to see a doctor he or she will see a doctor, either in a walk-in clinic or emergency room.

One point made in testimony by numerous staff at PAYR is how having a nurse on duty would help in situations like this. The staff explained they have no medical training, meaning  judgment plays more of a role than medical knowledge in the call on whether someone is ill enough to need care.

The coroner’s inquest is designed to inform the public of the circumstances surrounding LaChance’s death, provide recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future, and to warn the public of practices that cause death in that manner.

claskowski@panow.com

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk