Collet and David Stephan. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Judge and lawyers spar over admissible evidence in Stephan trial

Jul 9, 2019 | 12:36 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – David and Collet Stephan were back in court Tuesday and called two witnesses who both appeared via video separately. The Stephans are each charged with one count of failing to provide the necessaries of life after their 19-month-old son Ezekiel died of bacterial meningitis back in March 2012.

Anthony (Tony) Gallagher works for Referral, Access, Advice, Placement, Information & Destination (RAAPID), a physician-to-physician consulting firm that works with Alberta Health Service (AHS) to find the appropriate specialists for specific cases.

Gallagher testified that he alerted the Alberta Children’s Hospital (ACH) in Calgary that Ezekiel would be coming in for treatment, but could not remember if he gave a “heads up” call to Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge ahead of time to let them know that the child may need to stop for care in Lethbridge on the way from Cardston to Calgary.

Doing so, he told court, is a standard practice, but due to this incident happening more than seven years ago, it was too vague in his mind. The documented records from a potential call to Lethbridge was not available.

Next up on the virtual stand was Sarah Saleh, an information specialist with PADIS, the Poison And Drug Information Service. She said her job is to speak with doctors to determine a sequence of events that lead to a patient being in their current condition and then to find a specialist to come in.

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Saleh had a recorded phone conversation with Dr. Aoife O’Carroll, a resident doctor at the ACH after the Stephans had arrived in Calgary.

In an audio playback in the courtroom, Dr. Aoife O’Carroll told Saleh that the CT scan did not appear to show anything for meningitis, but she was concerned about the effects that a “schwack” of herbal medications taken by Ezekiel might have been having. An autopsy report ordered by the Stephan family later confirmed that he did suffer from bacterial meningitis.

Justice Clackson, the presiding judge in the case, dismissed the notes taken by Saleh during the call as admissible evidence, saying that it was merely hearsay from one institution to another.

He initially did not allow the recorded phone call either, as it was one of several segments from the entire conversation.

David Stephan said there must have been an issue with the audio file being corrupted on PADIS’ systems, and that this section was the only one that could be recovered.

Collet Stephan’s lawyer Ingrid Hess, however, argued that the call was still a valid and important piece of evidence from the perspective of it being a medical record between medical institutions. Clackson changed his mind on the matter and permitted it as evidence.

Crown Prosecutor Britta Kristensen tried to get a second phone call between PADIS and AHS admitted as evidence, but that was denied.

Saleh was working the night shift on March 15th, 2012, but the second call with Dr. Aoife O’Carroll happened with a different information specialist the morning after they took over for her.

Since Saleh was the only witness with PADIS who was called to the court and was not part of the second call, Justice Clackson retorted that she could not give appropriate answers to any questions relating to the call.

David and Collet Stephan are scheduled to return to the Lethbridge courthouse again Wednesday morning.