uvic student's mother takes stand on day 1 of her coroner's inquest
6 minute read
sidney mcintyre-starko with her beloved dog lucy. photo courtesy sidney's family
the mother of an 18-year-old student who died in a university of victoria dorm wept as she testified at a coroner’s inquest into her daughter’s death, a high-profile case that has led to major changes on secondary school campuses.
sidney mcintyre-starko, 18, was remembered as a fierce and funny friend, a strong student and avid reader, a singer and dancer, and “an authentic being” whose death due to toxic drugs was unexpected and hard to comprehend for everyone who loved her.
“i’m sure most of you can appreciate how difficult it is to summarize your child,” sidney’s mother, vancouver emergency physician dr. caroline mcintyre, told the five-person jury, as she wiped away tears.
“we’ve put so much thought into that, to try to capture that. and it’s almost an impossible task.”
when sidney and a second student collapsed jan. 23, 2024, witnesses immediately called 911 and campus security for help. but the first-year student died after not receiving the overdose-reversing drug naloxone for 13 minutes or cpr for 15 minutes, largely because the students’ overdoses were mistaken for seizures.
one juror asked mcintyre if providing cpr could reverse an overdose. as a doctor, the mother explained that fentanyl stops a person from breathing, so providing rescue breaths and chest compressions can keep them alive even if there is no immediate access to naloxone.
advertisement
overdose “should be 100 per cent salvageable in a young person,” mcintyre explained to the juror.
she described her family, including sidney’s father ken starko and older brother oliver, as private people who have become public fighters for more cpr training and naloxone availability in b.c., especially in high schools and post-secondary institutions.
“how do i live with myself if this happens to someone else?”
what exactly happened that night, as well as the actions of first responders, will be explored by several witnesses at the three-week inquest.
a uvic student, identified only as student 1, testified monday afternoon that she was leaving a dance studio in downtown victoria the night before, on jan. 22, when she found a box containing several bottles of coolers on johnson street.
as a “broke student,” she was excited to bring this free alcohol back to her friends on campus, who made plans to drink the coolers on the weekend.
student 2 then testified that she and sidney found a “small clear tube with a black cap with greyish white powder” inside the box. the next evening, she, sidney and a third student were dressed in pyjamas, preparing to watch a movie, when they put the powder on a residence bathroom counter and sniffed it through straws.
advertisement
she testified there had been little information on campus about the toxic drug crisis, and that she “wasn’t really thinking too much” about the risks at the time.
“you don’t expect it to happen to you. you don’t really expect the worst of the situation,” she said.
sidney collapsed a minute or two later in student 2’s residence room, and student 3 lost consciousness shortly after. student 2 called 911, but didn’t immediately tell the call-taker that the three had taken drugs.
“i think it was one of those things that i wasn’t expecting it to escalate so quickly. i was afraid of getting into trouble,” she testified. “i realize i should have said something.”
under questioning from a lawyer representing sidney’s family, student 2 said she would have told the truth if uvic had policies that stated she wouldn’t get in trouble for admitting drug use and wouldn’t get evicted from residence for doing so.
under questioning from uvic’s lawyer, she agreed she wasn’t thinking about the university’s policies at that moment because she intoxicated.
when student 1 came to the residence later, other young people told her the three students had used drugs found in the cooler box, but she said she had no knowledge of the vial being there.
advertisement
student 1 testified that she learned sidney had just been taken to the hospital, that student 3 was sick and being attended to by another youth, and described student 2 as drifting out of consciousness, sweating, and with crossed eyes.
she called 911 again because, after sidney was taken to hospital, all of the first responders and security guards had left. students 2 and 3 were then also taken to hospital.
“there was no medical personnel there helping at all or contributing,” she said. “i was really worried about them after what happened to sidney.”
lawyers for the b.c. ambulance service and for the post-secondary and health ministries questioned mcintyre about sidney at age 15, as she struggled to adjust to high school and when the covid-19 pandemic shut down her dance studio and made her more isolated.
mcintyre agree that her daughter was in a “dark period” at the time, not unlike other teenagers grappling with social isolation during the pandemic. but she sought therapy and medication for both anxiety and depression, and felt better about a year later.
when sidney entered uvic at age 18 she was on lower doses of medication, “was in a good, solid place” and had pursued academic accommodations for students with a history of anxiety to ensure she would continue to be successful during her first year away from home.
advertisement
“she was actually doing quite well,” mcintyre said. “if you ask me how that happened that night, i don’t know.”
she said her daughter was not a vulnerable teenager who was influenced by peer pressure. she pushed back on further questioning from the lawyers, asking why her daughter’s medical history from three years earlier was relevant to the circumstances around her death.
“this inquest was mostly held because my daughter was left for 15 minutes to die when 911 was called and when campus security was sitting there with narcan in their pocket,” she said.
mcintyre said she spoke openly with her children about the risks of drugs, because she witnessed the overdose crisis in the emergency room where she works. through tears, though, she said she now wished she had spent more time teaching her daughter how to use naloxone, but hadn’t because there was never any evidence that her daughter or any of her friends used hard drugs.
sobbing, she described that as a “life sentence” of guilt that she now lives with.
testimony continues tuesday.
the presiding coroner, larry marzinzik, explained that the inquest will determine facts related to the death, to make recommendations that may prevent similar deaths in the future, and to satisfy the community that the death is not being ignored. it does not determine blame for the death.
advertisement
the inquest is scheduled for three weeks, with 33 witnesses scheduled to testify. twelve lawyers are representing various agencies including uvic, the ambulance service and the ministries of health and post-secondary education.
sidney’s death has led to better access to naloxone and other harm reduction measures on campuses, and promises to improve first aid policies. sidney’s parents hope the inquest will lead to changes in b.c.’s 911 system, to avoid a similar preventable death from happening in the future.
you can follow ongoing coverage of the inquest here:
advertisement
