{"id":333744,"date":"2025-12-06T18:41:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T18:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/333744\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T18:41:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T18:41:06","slug":"b-c-releases-guidelines-on-involuntary-care-for-youth-mental-health-and-substance-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/333744\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. releases guidelines on involuntary care for youth mental health and substance-use"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Elliot Eurchuk died of an overdose at age 16 after being prescribed prescription opioids. Cases like Eurchuk\u2019s are at the centre of B.C. decision to set up guidance on providing involuntary care to minors.Rachel Staples\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Brock Eurchuk said he felt \u201ccompletely cut adrift\u201d by British Columbia\u2019s health care system when trying to deal with health troubles of their 16-year-old son, Elliot. <\/p>\n

The teenager died from an overdose in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cElliot was in care in a hospital for over a month, and the caregivers were completely detached from Elliot \u2013 and Rachel and I \u2013 in terms of giving us advice and helping us,\u201d Eurchuk said Friday accompanied by the teen\u2019s mother, Dr. Rachel Staples.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think it was out of fear that they were in a legal environment that they could be in trouble for sharing with Rachel and I medical information about Elliot \u2013 that Elliot, at 15 and 16, said, \u2019I don\u2019t want my parents to have any of this information.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The B.C. government said cases such as Eurchuk\u2019s are at the centre of its decision announced Friday to set up guidance on providing involuntary care to those under 19 years old, when they won\u2019t or can\u2019t care for themselves. <\/p>\n

Earlier: B.C. to introduce involuntary care for people with concurrent addiction, mental disorders, premier says<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr. Daniel Vigo, B.C.\u2019s chief scientific adviser for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders, said the guidance directs physicians to immediately connect with an affected youth\u2019s parents as soon as the patient shows up \u201csuffering from a severe disorder that impairs their ability to engage in care.\u201d<\/p>\n

In such cases, Vigo said doctors can provide involuntary care with consent of parents under the Mental Health Act, \u201cminimizing the disruption to the child\u2019s life and ensuring a robust follow-up strategy is in place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to intervene to prevent brain damage and death,\u201d Vigo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn exceptionally severe cases, the least restrictive intervention is admitting and treating the child, even if it is against the wishes (of the patient).\u201d<\/p>\n

Premier David Eby said the guidance for doctors and parents will not be universally well received, but the changes could significantly reduce brain injuries and deaths of children. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

BC Green Party says Premier David Eby and his NDP government should expand the accessibility of voluntary care instead of releasing guidance to doctors on involuntary care.Rich Lam\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Health officials in B.C. have up until now been told to treat those in their late teens as mature minors and allow them to make their own decisions. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have never once believed that letting somebody die in a gutter is protective of their human rights,\u201d Eby said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not an issue where everyone\u2019s going to agree. But I hope that we can all agree that we need to do our absolute best to provide front-line treatments and supports to kids if it means that they\u2019re not going to have a brain injury and it means they\u2019re not going to die of an overdose.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BC Green Party said in a statement that it is \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d about the guidance, calling it an \u201coutdated\u201d expansion of youth involuntary care under the Mental Health Act. <\/p>\n

The NDP government should be expanding the accessibility of voluntary care instead, the statement said. <\/p>\n

\u201cInvoluntary treatment is a slippery slope \u2013 legally, ethically, and clinically,\u201d said West Vancouver-Sea to Sky legislative member Jeremy Valeriote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe risks of harm are significant, and forcing young people into treatment can further erode their trust in the health system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Globe editorial: Dignity for the mentally ill cannot be deemed a nuisance<\/a><\/p>\n

Staples said the changes will give families a fighting chance to save their children\u2019s lives, noting that her son had gone to hospital for another health issue before he died and was diagnosed with an opioid-use disorder.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past, of course, we weren\u2019t informed,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen he had an overdose and he was brought to the hospital, the only way that the physician felt that we could be informed was sitting by Elliot\u2019s bedside as parents, (and) the doctor spoke to Elliot about his opioid use disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brock Eurchuk said if Elliot had taken a car out and had a terrible accident, they would have been responsible, yet they were unable to participate in their son\u2019s health care and were given no information even though he was trapped in a very high-risk situation. <\/p>\n

\u201cMost of Elliot\u2019s opioid use in the last three years of his life was to maintain normalcy, to avoid detox, and maintain a normal demeanour,\u201d he said. \u201cHe would go to school with opioids on board, not high, not dancing around, not detached. He was using those drugs to present in a normal fashion. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re hopeful, you have faith your son is making good decisions,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had the means to help Elliot in any fashion, but he thought he was in control of his illness, and he wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that helps people relate to how their child can fly under the radar and then die with one bad batch of drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Elliot Eurchuk died of an overdose at age 16 after being prescribed prescription…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260,13849],"class_list":{"0":"post-333744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth","11":"tag-pleasemod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}