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Teen’s antifreeze death prompts call for minimum care standards

A teenager’s death from antifreeze poisoning has an Alberta judge urging the government to bring in minimum care standards for drug and alcohol abuse treatment centres.
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RED DEER — A teenager’s death from antifreeze poisoning has an Alberta judge urging the government to bring in minimum care standards for drug and alcohol abuse treatment centres.

Taylor Argent was 17 and struggling with addictions when he completed a program at the privately run Central Alberta Recovery Centre in the spring of 2007.

But he relapsed and returned to the care centre near Tees, where he drank antifreeze that he had found in a garage on the grounds.

Argent stayed the night and staff called for help when they realized something was seriously wrong, but it was too late by the time a doctor figured out what happened.

Provincial court Judge J. A. Hunter said in a fatality report that the government should license all such facilities and inspect them on an ongoing basis.

He said there was no evidence that the government was overseeing the centre when Taylor was there and which is now accredited by an American-based company.

He points out that most staff at the centre — now called Serenity Ranch — had little or no formal training or experience at the time of Taylor’s death.

The night shift attendant who was on duty when the teen first started exhibiting symptoms “was woefully unprepared to deal with anything out of the ordinary.”

Hunter recommended in his report that the centre must do a better job of making sure all staff are properly trained and prepared to deal with emergencies.

“All staff must be oriented to the policies and procedures and there should be one member of staff responsible for training and following up with other staff members,” he said in the report released Friday.

“There must be at least one staff member on every shift who is trained and experienced in counselling,” he continued. “This person must have full authority to act in emergencies and be trained in emergencies.”

Hunter also said the facility should make sure all toxic substances are locked away.

Taylor was already in bad shape when he was taken by ambulance to a local health centre where medical staff decided he needed more care.

Dr. Graham Jones, Alberta’s chief toxicologist, testified at the inquiry that a blood sample taken after Taylor’s death showed three times as much ethylene glycol as what would be considered life threatening.

Taylor was in an ambulance on the way to Edmonton when his heart stopped. He was revived, but was critically ill by the time he arrived at the University of Alberta Hospital.

“Without the use of equipment and medical support he would not have been alive,” the report said.