Dying for weeks: New details emerge as B.C. heat dome death toll rises

Vancouver -

As the BC Coroners Service has revised the province’s death toll up to 595, we now know that some of those people took more than a month to die from the damage the heat dome inflicted on their bodies.

Data collected and published by the coroners shows that the heat dome period (during which the rare meteorological event shattered temperature records across the province) was June 25 to July 1 with 526 deaths reported. But two people died from the heat in the week leading up to the extreme weather, 43 died the week after, and several more died during the week of Aug. 6-12.

“The injury [that took their life] was actually the heat injury that occurred initially in that week but the people sadly ultimately succumbed in the weeks after,” explained Dr. Taj Baidwan, chief medical officer for the BC Coroners Service. “The organs take time sometimes and the body fights against dying and essentially those processes take time and that's what we saw."

In 2011, Health Canada published “Extreme Heat Events Guidelines: Technical Guide for Health Care Workers” with extensive information about the risks of heat waves and the health consequences. It cited neurological symptoms like confusion and delirium, heart issues, swelling, shock and organ failure among the extreme outcomes of heat stroke that could ultimately lead to death from hyperthermia.

"The effects would've been very obvious in those people but it would've taken them a while to succumb," explained Baidwan. "Say someone gets renal failure, we've got so many great ways we can help people with renal failure and maybe we were able to help for a certain amount of time and eventually it was decided there was nothing more that could be done and that process could take weeks, sometimes."

CALLS FOR MORE INFORMATION TO PREVENT FURTHER TRAGEDY

As meteorologists warned the temperatures could smash past previous records and be dangerous to human health, B.C.’s health authorities issued an unprecedented warning about the conditions – but few outside the healthcare system knew the warning had never before been issued and even medical experts underestimated the death toll.

Health officials have never provided statistics or any accounting of how many British Columbian received treatment for heat-related health issues during that time, and city planners are urging them to make that information available in addition to the analysis of heat dome fatalities.

"This isn't just about one moment and talking about one human tragedy that's kind of enveloped our region, but really the fundamental need of investing toward a data system that informs us in terms of really where the vulnerable populations are and interventions," said Andy Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University. 

While officials have already said the dead were mostly over the age of 70 and almost all were indoors, Yan said he would like to see detailed demographic data by postal code that’s anonymized to protect personal privacy, but which can help municipal officials and urban planners figure out what can be done to help prevent similar deaths in the future. Whether it was individuals isolated in detached homes or low-income and living in social housing can factor into future decision-making.

“It allows me to understand the housing conditions that they faced, the types of communities that they currently live in – for example are they on a heat island?" said Yan. "Some studies have shown tree canopies can decrease the surrounding temperature by almost 5 degrees Celsius, so that’s a much easier intervention and much more inexpensive than engaging the healthcare system.”

DEADLIEST WEATHER EVENT IN CANADIAN HISTORY

In September, the BC Centre for Disease Control’s Dr. Sarah Henderson made a presentation to the BC Union of Municipalities convention where she said the heat dome was the deadliest weather event in Canadian history by a factor of three, confirming Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health authorities were most impacted.

“What’s likely happened here is people who had chronic illnesses or were more susceptible to mortality died during this event,” she said, noting that an Abbotsford home they studied was nearly 40 C indoors without air conditioning at the heat wave’s peak.

Henderson’s analysis made three key findings: people died in areas with less greenery, where more people were poor and where people are more likely to live alone.

The provincial health officer has acknowledged the public health response to the heat wave was insufficient, with the premier admitting his government was distracted by their plan to lift pandemic restrictions for the summer; the public safety minister also pointed out B.C. had only seen three heat-related deaths in the previous five years.

A PANEL BUT NO INQUEST

The coroners investigate each death individually, a painstaking process that’ll take many more months and will culminate in a Death Review Panel involving other experts like engineers who will make recommendations and determine what factors made the biggest difference – including ambulance waits.

“Who responded, how fast that response was -- all of those things are being collected but it's going to be some months before we get all that back and can share it widely," said Baidwan. 

When CTV News asked whether the service had a theory as to why so many more people died in British Columbia than they did in Washington and Oregon (where residents faced similar temperatures), Baidwan said they needed to gather much more information before making a comparison, emphasizing their mandate is fact-finding and not laying blame.