NWT Chief coroner asked to probe events that led to the death of Effie Blake
Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services
Inuvik (Apr 30/01) - A coroner's inquest into the death of tuberculosis victim Effie Blake will open June 12 in Inuvik.
Blake died last July in Edmonton. Her tuberculosis went undiagnosed in Inuvik hospital and was not discovered until she was sent to Stanton Hospital in Yellowknife.
"They treated us as though we were stupid or something," Blake's daughter Maria said last week. "I just don't care for the system and how it works up this way ... I'm glad something is actually being done."
NWT Chief Coroner Percy Kinney said his investigations do not usually deal with death from natural causes. The findings and recommendations of the coroner's jury will be presented to the territorial government.
Earlier this year, the family called for a public inquiry into the death. McKenzie Delta MLA David Krutko threatened "to make an issue" out of it. The call prompted Health Minister Jane Groenewegen to request a coroner's investigation.
Last fall the Health Department quietly commissioned a separate report from Alberta TB specialist Dr. Ann Fanning. It was partially released in February. Fanning called TB rates in the NWT "unacceptably high".
The department promised to cut TB rates--which are 10 times the national average--to national standards by 2005.
Maria said she and her five siblings will likely all be present at the inquest.
"Because everybody knows that she didn't have to die," she said. "We are looking forward to it."
