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A2 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday March 28, 2001 Physician believed drug warning to patient not needed (C ontinued from p age A 1) U nder continued pressure from W ill, Dr. Lau adm itted Young possessed "no diagnosed sym ptom " for w hich Prepulsid was necessary. "I d o n 't believe P repulsid w ould have helped a psychological problem ," said Dr. Lau. Dr. Lau said, however, that if she thought Prepulsid was inappropriate for Young, she would have taken her off the drug. Given Young's personal and fam ily history, she felt it was unnecessary to warn her patient about side effects. E arlier in the inquest, Dr. M ittler said the "dear doctor" letter from Prepulsid m anufac turer Janssen-O rtho that he read on M arch 8, 2000 - less than two weeks before Young died - w arned o f so m any contraindications for Prepulsid that he told his staff not to refill any o f his patients' prescriptions for the m edica tion. Given the size o f his practice (approxi mately 3,000 people) Dr. M ittler said last week that he had no idea at that tim e ju st how many o f his patients were taking Prepulsid. W hen asked if there was anything in the letter for him to consider contacting patients to make them stop taking the drug, Dr. M ittler said, "In hindsight, absolutely." Dr. Lau, who said she had been prescribing Prepulsid to other patients for years, did not agree with Dr. M ittler's reaction to the letter and m aintained that she thought it was still safe is used correctly. Young - a Grade 10 student at O akvilleTrafalgar High School who had been taking the drug off and on since 1999 - died on M arch 19, 2000 after her heart stopped the night before while she was at home. Dr. Lau saw Young for the first tim e on Jan. 19, 2000 after her patient com plained o f bloat ing after m eals and the urge the vom it. P repulsid - w hich Dr. Lau said was the "appropriate treatm ent" under the circum stances - had already been prescribed by Dr. M ittler. Dr. Lau said she w anted to rule out an underlying physical problem, such as gastroparesis, for her discom fort and scheduled a gastric em ptying test for Feb. 4, 2000. The results o f the test proved negative, but these were not known until M arch 1, 2000 when Dr. M ittler's office requested them and Dr. L au's office called M cM aster. (Dr. Lau explained that her own procedure for request- ing test results - which can take as long as three m onths - is "dictated by my needs.") As fate would have it, Dr. Lau was the in tern ist on call at O ak v ille-T rafalg ar M em orial H ospital when Young was rushed to ER the evening o f M arch 18, 2000. "W hen she first arrived, all efforts were made to resuscitate her," said Dr. Lau, who won the Janssen-O rtho M otility Award in 1998, which allow ed her to continue her stud ies and paid her a $42,000 salary. Friends and param edics had tried with som e success to revive Young, who was shocked nine tim es by a defibrillator and adm inistered various m edications in a bid to re-start her heart. Blood draw n within m inutes adm ission revealed that Young's electrolyte levels were normal. Law yers for Janssen-O rtho have postulated that excessive vom iting could cause an elec trolyte im balance - particularly in potassium which could have triggered the arrhythmia. W hen asked w hether resuscitation efforts and m edications could have influenced Young's electrolytes, Dr. Lao said she could "only speculate." She also m aintained it was "diffi cult to assess" what Y oung's electrolyte levels were at the time of her cardiac arrest. The doctor who perform ed the autopsy tes tified that Young's electrolyte balance was "w ithin norm al lim its" and there was no scar tissue in her heart, which she also character ized as "norm al." The only dam age, she said, was from the cardiac arrest. Janssen Pharm aceutica o f Titusville, N.J. announced the same m onth Young died that the drug would no longer be m arketed in A m erica after July 14, 2000 - except in special cases. H ealth C anada pulled Cisapride (known as Prepulsid in this country and Propulsid in the U nited States) from Canadian pharmacies A ugust 7, 2000 due to the possibility o f "rare, but serious, heart com plications, including ... irreg u lar h eartb eat rhythm s and sudden death." H alton P rid e P icnic set fo r June 2 The second annual Halton Pride Picnic will be held on Sat. June 2 at Bronte Creek Provincial Park. Organized by the Halton Pride Committee, this year's is called "Celebrating the Diverse Expressions of Family" and will focus on the family. "The committee unanimously agreed to focus on the family after receiving such a positive response from the Halton communities last year," said Marcus Logan, volunteer organizer. Event attractions include nature hikes, music, arts and crafts, children's face painting and activ ity area, educational and health displays, local business booths, raffles and a barbecue. A workshop on Gay Parenting will run during the day. The workshop is organized by Judy MacDonnell, a public health nurse educator, grad student and mother doing her PhD in lesbian par enting. Last year's first Halton Pride Picnic attracted more than 400 attendees, including families and youth. Civic Scene W ednesday, M arch 28: Halton Regional Council meets in the regional council cham bers at 9:30 a.m. at regional headquarters, 1151 Bronte Rd. A public information meeting regarding the Oakville Harbour Advisory Committee is at 7:30 p.m. in the Bronte Room of the Oakville Municipal Building, 1225 Trafalgar Rd. The Halton District School Board meets at 8 p.m. at the J.W. Singleton Education Centre, 2050 Guelph Line, Burlington. T h u rsd ay , M arc h 29: A public informa tion meeting regarding Herak, Marek and Valery Etc. is at 7 p.m. in the Trafalgar Room of the Oakville M unicipal Building. A public information meeting regarding Matson is at 7:30 p.m. in the Oakville Room o f the Oakville Municipal Building. M onday, A p ril 2: Town Council meets at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers o f the O akville M unicipal Building. T u esd ay , A p ril 3: A public m eeting regarding Heritage Gates is at 7 p.m. in the Trafalgar Room o f the Oakville M unicipal Building. A public m eeting regarding D aim ler Chrysler is at 7 p.m. in the O akville Room of the O akville M unicipal Building. The regular m eeting of the Halton Roman Catholic D istrict School Board is at 8 p.m. at the bo ard 's com m ittee room , 802 Drury Lane, Burlington. W ednesday, A p ril 4: A public meeting regarding M em orial Gardens is at 7 p.m. in the T rafalgar R oom o f the O akville M unicipal Building. P E N N S Y L V A N IA H O U S E C O L L E C T I O N Thursday, April 5 Beare from Lejaby will join our professional fitting team. There will be refreshments, gift with puchase and you chance to win A a S100 Lejaby gift certificate. j j l c Floor models - 6 suites to go! W e 're upgrading our floor display. Take advantage of this one time offer to buy the best of Pennsylvania House at lowest prices ever. ASCVf FPH 107 R e y n o ld s St. (north at l.akeshori: ltd. I .i d o w n to w n O A K V I L L E 8 4 5 -1 2 1 Richway FURNISHINSS HOME & BUSINESS Mississauga Home & Design Center 2575 D undas St. W ., M ississauga, O n t. L5K 2M 6 M on-W ed 10-6 · T hu-Fri 10-9 · Sat 10-6 · Sun 12-5 9 0 5 -569-6000 · Fax 905-569-0153 m ere's a whole new world out (Here... discover it today. www.richwayfurnishings.com W ,. W W ...... .