Coroner’s inquest announced for Oak Bay teen’s overdose death

A coroner’s inquest into the death of an Oak Bay teen has been scheduled – a welcome move called for by both the teen’s parents and former B.C. representative for children and youth Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond.

Elliot Eurchuk’s parents, Brock Eurchuk and Rachel Staples, called for an inquest in July into the events that led to Elliot’s death.

Elliot was 16 years old when he died of an opioid overdose at his Oak Bay home on April 20. He battled drug dependency after he was prescribed opioids for four major surgeries in 2017, as a result of sports injuries. When his prescriptions of the highly addictive opioids ran out, he turned to street drugs.

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Turpel-Lafond, added her voice to the call after seeing the recommendations and action items that came out of the Vancouver Island Health Authority’s internal quality review conducted into the medical care Elliot received before he died.

Elliot’s parents say they called for an inquiry to find out what systemic changes need to take place to prevent this from happening again. The intent is not to lay blame, they say, but to prevent other parents and families from having to endure the unnecessary and tragic death of a child.

It is Brock Eurchuk’s hope that the coroner’s inquest will help to advance an amendment to the Safe Care Act prioritizing a parent’s right to access their child’s medical information in circumstances where that child is exhibiting lethal at-risk behaviour.

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As the former representative for children and youth, Turpel-Lafond said some of the most effective areas where change was made was when there was a coroner’s inquest.

The public inquest into Elliot’s death by BC Coroners Service begins June 17 at the University of Victoria.

The inquest will review the circumstances of Eurchuk’s death and explore whether there are opportunities for a jury to make recommendations that may prevent deaths in similar circumstances.

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Presiding coroner Michael Egilson and a jury will hear evidence from witnesses under oath to determine the facts surrounding this death.

The BC Coroners Service is not a fault-finding agency and the jury must not make any finding of legal responsibility – it gathers the facts surrounding why a death took place in order to provide an independent service to the family, community, government agencies and other organizations.