Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 13, 2007, Winnipeg, Manitoba a4 Winnipeg free press thursday december 13, 2007 top news life and curb Taser use ramp told death but report stops Short of calling decisions for moratorium in courts on stun guns Golubchyk Case shows by sue Bailey and Jim Bro skill possible trend Cha Ottawa ? the ramp watch dog says mounties should dras by Joe Paraskevas tidally curb their increasing Reliance on Taser stun guns to guard against usage the commission for complaints against the ramp says the 50,000-Volt Taser should Only be used in touch stun or firing Mode when suspects Are combative or pose a risk of death or grievous bodily Paul Kennedy head of the commis Sion cited usage creep As a major concern warranting immediate action. Taser use has expanded to include subduing resistant subjects who do not pose a threat of grievous bodily harm or death and on whom the use of lethal Force would not be an option he said in an interim report released wednes Day. His 53-Page report says the Taser restrictions should apply in cases of so called excited delirium in which suspects Are in a heart pounding state of agitation. Excited delirium has been repeatedly blamed to explain the Sud Den deaths of several people soon after being zapped. Kennedy a interim report stops Short of calling for a moratorium on the widely used stun guns. But it recommends revamped Taser training stricter reporting requirements and More research on the controversial devices. It follows an International juror Over the death of polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski. The 40-year-old Man died oct. 14 after he was repeatedly tapered and pinned to the floor by ramp officers at Vancouver International Airport. Dziekanski is recorded As the 18th person in Canada to die in recent years after being hit by a Taser. Amnesty International says at least 280 people have died since july 2001 in the United states. Taser International makers of the device stress the weapons have never been directly blamed for a death. Public safety minister Stockwell Day asked Kennedy to look at How ramp use the electronic guns which can be fired from a distance of sever Al metres or applied at close Range. On the web should Taser use be restricted As the ramp watchdog recommends cast your vote at ramp records show 18 people in Ca i will review this interim report before commenting further Day said wednesday. Kennedy whose full report is due next summer says tasers should be considered an Impact weapon rather than an intermediate tool such As Pep per Spray or a Baton. Some 2,800 tasers Are being used by More than 9,100 ramp members across the country. Mounties have wielded the electronic guns Over 3,000 times since their introduction in december 2001. Yet Kennedy found no annual report has been produced nor has the police Force thoroughly examined its statistical information on Taser use in develop ing related policy. So clearly from my perspective More can be done Kennedy said in an interview. Nada have died in recent years after being hit by a Taser. We live in a very dynamic situation and its never too late to do something. And i think this is a window of Opportunity for the police to look at this and say of these Are solid recommendations and lets do Tony Cannavino head of the Canad an police association in to so sure. He wondered How Kennedy can substantiate his usage creep claims when ramp Taser data has not been fully assessed. He also suggested Kennedy a recommendations Are too vague and could wind up putting police officers and suspects More at risk. If you use a Baton instead of a Taser you re going to injure the per son he said. How do you define combative what is grievous bodily harm that needs More ? the Canadian press Julie Oliver / can West news services archives regardless of the decision a Mani Toba judge reaches in the Case of Samuel Golubchyk canadians May increasingly turn to the courts to Challenge doctors diagnoses to take a patient off life sup port a director of the Canadian medical association said wednesday. Golubchyk a family is awaiting a judges verdict on whether doctors can remove the 84-year-old Winnipeg Man from life support including a ventilator and a feeding tube that has helped keep him alive for about four weeks at Grace Hospital. To do so would go against the family a wishes. But the Cha this country a largest physician advocate organization believes the Case could give other people facing similar end of life medical Deci Sions the option to override doctors by taking them to court. The concern for physicians is that it sends a message or. Jeff Blackmer the cams executive director of medical ethics said in an interview from Ottawa. This Type of decision sends a message one Way or the other in terms of How to make decisions in these types of situations. So even if its not a legally binding precedent it will certainly be some Type of precedent in terms of the Way the courts have looked at this Type of in previous Canadian cases doctors patients and patients families have fought Over medical orders not to resuscitate someone whose condition becomes so serious that aggressive attempts to keep that person alive would be inappropriate Blackmer said. The Golubchyk Case is exceptional because it involves actually stopping life sustaining measures already in use City woman charged he added. Whether the Case achieves Legal precedent depends on How far it extends in the judicial system Black with disrupting Mer said. But medical technological Advance ments he added have led increasing mosque service numbers of patients and their families to be confronted by decisions of whether to continue life support and aggressive life saving treatment ? and to clash by Mike Mcintyre with physicians who believe As they do in the Golubchyk Case that further treat a Winnipeg woman has been hit with a rare charge of disrupting a religious service following a heated confrontation inside a City mosque the free press has Learned. Kirsten Blosser was recently charged following an investigation into the oct. 10 incident at the Manitoba islamic association mosque on Waverley Street. Winnipeg police spokesman const. Jason Michalyshin said the suspects motives Are not Clear but that it does to believe to be a hate crime. It appears she was causing a disturbance and an attempt was made to Deal with her by members of the mosque said Michalyshin. She was allowed to remain in the service but it got to the Point where they Felt they could no longer control the woman was known to members of the facility and had previously attended services he said. There May have been some issues in the past Between them but nothing that had involved us. They tried to Deal with her As Best they could but Felt that calling the police was the Best thing to do said Michalyshin. Crown attorney Kyle Parker said the Case is one of the first of its kind in Manitoba under this existing legislation. I think its new to us All he said. Parker does to believe the woman was deliberately targeting the mosque. This seems to be a Case where she was just upset about something he said. Members of the mosque could to be reached for comment wednesday. The charge of obstructing an officiating Cler Gyman carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison. It is defined in the criminal code As by threat or Force unlawfully obstructing or Clergyman or min ister from celebrating divine service or performing any other function in connection with his Parker said it is similar to the charge of causing a disturbance but was created by legislators to give special Protection inside places of worship. Blosser was initially released on bail with conditions to abstain from drugs and alcohol live at the salvation army and have no Contact with the mosque. She was re arrested last weekend after allegedly breach ing some of her conditions and is now Back in custody at the remand Centre. Ment would be futile. More and More what we re seeing is the courts being asked to be involved in this Type of a situation Blackmer said. And the concern for practising physicians is obviously that they Don to particularly want to see their clinical judgment substituted by someone without the same training and background that they have. Often the question becomes just because we can do something does that mean we should do something Black Mer added. And so As our capabilities extend in that area we re probably being faced with this scenario More this week lawyers for Golubchyk a family and for Grace Hospital and hos Pital physicians argued before court of Queens Bench Justice Perry Schulman who reserved his decision on the mat Ter. Golubchyk suffered a brain injury in a 2003 fall. He received care but was transferred to Grace Hospital with pneumonia and pulmonary hypertension in october. He was placed on life support on nov. 3. In a statement of facts filed to the court Golubchyk a family maintained he is not brain dead and continues to have use of his heart and kidneys. The court heard Golubchyk is retaining Large amounts of fluid. A ventilator is preventing the fluid from overpowering Golubchyk a lungs said Bill Olson the lawyer representing the Hospital. Olson said doctors had followed Steps accepted by organizations such As the Cha and the College of physicians and surgeons of Manitoba to arrive at their decision to Stop the life support system keeping Golubchyk alive. . flin flon group wants Snow tested find in the soil is dominantly from the bad old Days by Lindsey Wiebe when the smoke stacks were very Small he said. The idea was How much of the Metal that a a flin flon Community group wants to see the being Analysed at ground level is from those old City a snowfall tested for toxic contamination. Days and can we figure out How much is still com flin flon a Community advisory committee a ing Down group involved in a health risk assessment for the Price said the groups proposal was sent off to area put out the idea after it was pitched by com the assessments technical advisory committee. Mittee member Dave Price. He expects it could take a few weeks for a Deci Price said while outside consultants did Exten Sion on whether to go ahead with Snow tests. Sive soil tests last summer not to mention tests on soil testing in flin flon is being conducted by an everything from blueberries to fish nobody outside consulting group intrinsic environment thought to test the Metal Levels in Snow. Tal sciences inc., As part of a year Long assessment the retired geologist said he thought Snow tests on health risks to residents from chemical expo could be particularly useful for measuring current sure. Pollution Levels from flin flon a smelter. The assessment was launched after a study by soil testing he said is thought to be better at Manitoba conservation found High Levels of harm measuring contamination from decades past Ful metals in the soil around flin flon due to emis before the smelters Short smoke stacks were Sions from the nearby smelter. Replaced by a taller stack that dispersed smoke More widely. This is the general feeling that the Metal we. ;