BY ALEXANDRA ZABJEK, EDMONTONJOURNAL.COM JANUARY 18, 2011
EDMONTON — Doctors have never been able to pinpoint why a 13-year-old girl with a rare chromosomal abnormality suffered a fatal heart attack in 2006, a fatality inquiry heard Tuesday.
Samantha Martin appeared to be in good physical condition in the five months she spent living with her biological family in St. Albert before her death, her mother Velvet Martin told the inquiry.
The teenager spent most of her life in a foster home, but was returned to her parents’ care in the months before she died on Dec. 3, 2006. Martin has alleged her daughter was mistreated in foster care, and that no one followed up on concerns her daughter was suffering seizures.
Martin said none of the doctors who examined Samantha, either before or after her death, could explain why she went into cardiac arrest.
But Martin told the inquiry that researchers who studied the case have theorized the heart attack could have been linked to untreated seizures.
“I believe if she’d been removed (from the foster home) prior to that, we would have dealt with her seizures,” Martin said in court.
The fatality inquiry is not a criminal trial, and the judge presiding over the process cannot assign blame for a death. The judge can present recommendations on how to prevent similar deaths in the future.
The inquiry previously heard that Samantha was diagnosed with Tetrasomy 18p, several weeks after her birth. The rare condition causes developmental delays and is associated with seizures, cardiac defects, and gastrointestinal problems.
Samantha was put in a foster home soon after her birth in 1993. Her mother said by 2001, she was concerned her daughter was being mistreated. She reported Samantha suffered from seven broken bones, and various serious bruises, and she was never given clear explanations for how the injuries occurred.
Martin said she relinquished guardianship of her daughter on the advice of children’s services workers who told her Samantha would receive more government support if she lived with a foster family.
It was the start of an often acrimonious relationship with the government ministry and the foster family.
A lawyer representing the foster family is expected to cross-examine her on Wednesday.
Read more:http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/Teen+heart+attack+stumped+doctors/4128785/story.html#ixzz1BUGUIVtQ
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