A fatality inquiry probing the death of a 13-year-old foster girl will not hear evidence this week, postponing witnesses pending testimony from medical experts.
Samantha Martin died from an apparent cardiac arrest in 2006, five months after leaving provincial foster care.
While the cause of death is clear, what caused Samantha's cardiac arrest is not. She had a rare genetic disorder called tetrasomy 18p that left her with developmental delays and other medical issues.
Velvet Martin, Samantha's biological mother, contends poor care Samantha received while in foster care, including untreated seizures, ultimately contributed to her death. The foster family has strenuously denied those allegations, including last Friday when the foster mother took the stand.
The inquiry can make findings as to what contributed to Samantha's death and make recommendations to help prevent future cases, but cannot make any findings of guilt.
Witnesses from Samantha's school and from children's services were scheduled to testify this week.
The court heard last week from an investigator with children's services that school officials expressed concerns about bruises and scratches Samantha had, as well as concerns about the quality of lunches Samantha was sent to school with.
The investigator said that, after reviewing the concerns with support workers and case supervisors as well as school officials, the department concluded a full investigation was not warranted.
Medical testimony needed
Inquiry counsel David Syme said the central function of the inquiry is to determine why the young girl died. He said the allegations of abuse or poor nutrition are relevant only if they can be linked to cardiac arrest.
"The purpose of the inquiry is to determine the cause of death and the circumstances surrounding it."
He said the medical experts that have testified to date have not been able to say what might have caused the cardiac arrest and without that determination, the allegations of abuse or poor nutrition aren't relevant to the inquiry's central purpose.
"So far the cause of death has been confirmed as cardiac arrest. The issue is what caused the cardiac arrest — thus far the physicians and I expect this may remain the case — but they can't say."
He said moving the other witnesses to the end of the inquiry will ensure they only testify if it is relevant to Samantha's cause of death.
"If they can't say what caused the death there is not much point in determining other circumstances that they can't tie into the death."
Earlier in the inquiry the court heard from two experts in the disorder from the University of Texas, who have studied the extremely rare conditions and documented 130 cases for a published research paper.
They testified the condition was not life threatening and that diagnosed children could live active, healthy lives.
At Syme's request, Dr. Mary Ann Thomas a clinical geneticist at the University of Calgary reviewed Samantha's medical records and autopsy report, but she was unable to pinpoint a cause.
When she took the stand she noted a neurologist at the hospital did not feel seizures could be the cause of the cardiac arrest. Thomas said it's possible an arrhythmia, where the heart has trouble maintaining a proper rhythm, was at play but could also not say for certain.
"There is nothing obvious in the history or the autopsy report to explain the cardiac arrest."
The inquiry is now set to resume Jan. 31 with more medical testimony, from the medical examiner as well as pediatricians that treated Samantha.
