Ingesting even a small amount of methadone could put a child in a coma within half an hour, a Calgary doctor testified in court Monday. (CBC) A Calgary father accused in the overdose death of his 16-month-old daughter was being treated with methadone for a drug addiction, a court heard Monday.
Jonathan Hope and Lisa Guerin, are charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and failure to provide the necessities of life to their daughter, Summer.
The girl died in April 2006 after swallowing a lethal amount of methadone.
Dr. Ian Postnikoff, who worked at a methadone treatment clinic, testified that Hope had once been allowed to take home daily doses of the powerful opiate as part of his treatment for a drug addiction. However, the privilege to take doses home was revoked in January 2006 because of Hope's criminal record, the doctor said.
Hope was receiving about 260 milligrams of methadone, one of the highest doses of the drug that the clinic was dispensing, said Postnikoff.
Methadone is so dangerous that ingesting even a small amount could put a child in a coma in 30 minutes, Postnikoff told the judge-only trial in the Court of Queen's Bench.
There were .42 milligrams of methadone per litre of Summer's blood, according to toxicology results, the court heard. But there's no definitive level that has been determined to be lethal for a child, Postnikoff said.
Mixed with juice
Last Friday, the court heard in a taped interview that Hope told detectives he drank his dose of methadone mixed with orange juice at the downtown clinic, but spit some of it into a coffee cup, which he took home, according to the Calgary Herald.
He said he left the cup in a bedroom and closed the door before going to a nearby gas station leaving the baby under Guerin's care. When Hope came home, the cup was on the floor.
Guerin told him Summer had not swallowed anything, but she had rinsed the baby's mouth out anyway, according to the interview. When he suggested they take the girl to hospital, Guerin said it wasn't necessary and then left the home, Hope told investigators.
Emergency crews found the baby dead in the home the next day. Court testimony has already outlined how Hope told paramedics he tried to revive the girl with CPR for five hours, and with the wires of a lamp as a makeshift defibrillator.
The father said he didn't call 911 because his phone wasn't working.
The trial is in its second week.
With files from John Spittal
