Kids 'still dying'

Family waits for inquest into daughter's death

By SARAH GREEN, TORONTO SUN   Sanchia Bulgin's family hopes a coroner's inquest in May will provide answers on why the 17-year-old died unexpectedly after routine surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children.

Bulgin, who had sickle cell anemia, died last Sept. 14 following non-emergency surgery to remove her gallbladder. Her death came just six months after a coroner's jury handed down recommendations following the Oct. 1998 death of 10-year-old Lisa Shore, who was treated for pain on the same floor where Bulgin recovered from surgery.

"They want answers," said Frank Gomberg, lawyer for Bulgin's family. "They want to know why she bled to death."

Gomberg said Bulgin's condition deteriorated over five hours after surgery, her heart rate and breathing racing "off the charts." But Bulgin was not checked by doctors during 6 p.m. rounds -- just two hours before she died.

"They didn't examine the patient and they didn't examine the charts," Gomberg said.

The inquest, slated to begin May 22 at coroner's courts in Toronto, will examine the care Bulgin received before and after her surgery.

The inquest will also look at recommendations from the Shore inquest, including those aimed at better monitoring patients and improving communications between hospital staff.

"What impact, if any, did they have on Sanchia Bulgin's situation," said coroner's counsel Al O'Marra. "And what was the response of the hospital to those recommendations?"

Lisa's mom, Sharon Shore, has applied for standing at the Bulgin inquest, saying there are many lingering questions from the probe into her daughter's death.

"Obviously, they haven't made changes," she said. "Children are still dying. I have to do whatever I can do to change things."