FILE PHOTO - A naloxone kit is seen in this file photo.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
May 17, 2024 - 12:00 PM
A homeless man who was found on the streets of Kelowna in 2021 died from a toxic mix of drugs as well as hypothermia, according to the BC Coroners Service.
A bylaw officer found the 34-year-old man among a group of other homeless people while doing a wellness check in late December, 2021. He was unresponsive and neither CPR nor naloxone could save him. The unidentified man was taken to hospital by ambulance but was pronounced dead a short time later.
His death came amid a particularly cold spell. A day later, Environment Canada issued a cold weather advisory for Kelowna with the temperature at -25 Celsius and a wind chill factor of -30 C. Police were doing regular wellness checks on homeless people trying to get them into shelters or at least warm clothing.
Coroner Jamie Stanley said in a coroners report the man was found on surveillance cameras smoking an unknown substance just before 10 p.m. and became unresponsive and never regained consciousness.
His core body temperature was 32.6 C, “consistent with mild hypothermia,” the report said.
He had a history of substance abuse and was taking methadone for some time but it was at least 11 months since his last treatment.
Fentanyl was found in his system “within a range where therapeutic and lethal concentrations overlap.” Unfortunately he also had methamphetamines and other drugs in his system.
“Fentanyl (opioid) and flualprazolam (benzodiazepine) exert depressant effects on the central nervous system,” Stanley writes. “Methamphetamine was detected at a range typically associated with recreational use. Methamphetamine is a stimulant that may precipitate a sudden fatal cardiac dysrhythmia or ischemic event. The effects of these substances, in isolation or when combined, are unpredictable and are sufficient to cause death.”
The death was ruled accidental.
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