Conflicting facts, grief, continue to dog parents of Cape Dorset baby

Makibi Timilak Akesuk is swaddled in a blanket shortly after his birth on January 3, 2012. The infant’s death on April 5, 2012, is the subject of an ongoing controversy involving the Government of Nunavut’s health and justice departments. (PHOTO COURTESY LUUTAAQ QAUMAGIAQ)

Nunavut’s chief coroner has released new information on the 2012 death of three-month old Makibi Timilak Akesuk in Cape Dorset, but the baby’s parents are renewing their demand for a coroner’s inquest into their son’s death and asking for the coroner’s resignation.

In a July 6 statement shared with Nunatsiaq News, the young parents, Luutaaq Qaumagiaq and Neevee Akesuk, also contradicted the new information released by Nunavut’s coroner, Padma Suramala.

“We want a coroner’s inquest to understand the circumstances of [our son’s] death… so that no other parents will have to live through the grief and great sadness of the loss of their child to a preventable death,” that statement says.

“This is a pain no other parents should have to live through… Padma Suramala should resign.”

And now, pathologists are contradicting each other as to why Baby Makibi died.

In Nunavut, the coroner can call an inquest to clarify circumstances surrounding a death and to make recommendations aimed at avoiding similar deaths in the future.

In June, the parents told Nunatsiaq News an inquest should be held into their son’s death and that Suramala withheld information from them.

But it’s unclear at this point how preventable Baby Makibi’s death, on April 5, 2012, actually was.

For instance, in a June 23 statement, Suramala said the preliminary autopsy report of Baby Makibi, “showed no anatomical cause of death,” leading her to conclude the cause of death was sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.

SIDS is the unexpected death of an otherwise healthy baby.

But an autopsy, performed in Ottawa days after Baby Makibi’s death, determined the immediate cause of death was a lung virus called cytomegalovirus, or CMV. That virus is treatable in some cases.

“The chief coroner’s office later consulted a forensic pathologist,” to review the autopsy results, Suramala’s recent statement says.

Suramala said the review was a “precautionary step,” but she does not explain what specifically prompted the review or whether it’s routine practice to review autopsies three years after they’ve been performed.

In contradiction to the original autopsy results, the review, dated June 2 and attached to Suramala’s statement, says lab results for Baby Makibi’s autopsy show “no evidence of infection” and tests for CMV were “negative.”

“Fatal CMV infection is typically seen” with immune system symptoms, but there was, “no fever or other evidence the child was unwell,” says the review, conducted by Dr. Christopher Milroy, the director of forensic pathology at The Ottawa Hospital.

The Cape Dorset parents take issue with that, saying their child was definitely unwell shortly before his death.

On April 3, 2012 — between one and two days before he died — Baby Makibi “was starting to cough” and had a “runny nose,” the parents’ statement says.

On April 4, the infant spent the day at his grandmother’s, the statement continues. She later told the parents Makibi was crying “most of the day” and that he “might have a fever.”

After supper the same day, the statement says Makibi’s mother called the local health centre where former Nunavut nurse Debbie McKeown was on-call.

She told McKeown that Baby Makibi “was coughing, breathing funny and that he might have a fever,” the parents’ statement says.

“Debbie McKeown just told us to give him a bath and bring him in the morning if he doesn’t get any better,” says the statement.

Suramala has acknowledged that McKeown did not follow a GN policy that says all infants presenting symptoms must be examined in-person at the health centre.

Had Baby Makibi been seen by McKeown, he might have had a chance to survive, the parents say.

“Because he was not seen, he had no chance,” their statement said.

Milroy’s review of their son’s autopsy also says, “There was evidence of bed sharing in this case, a known risk for [SIDS].”

That observation was likely taken from Suramala’s July 2012 report on Baby Makibi’s death which says the infant was asleep between his parents when he was found not breathing.

But Qaumagiaq and Akesuk said in their statement that Makibi usually slept in his crib, and the implication that they could have done something to prevent a SIDS-related death Is cruel.

“We resent and are deeply disturbed that Padma Suramala would lie… and make us feel responsible for our son’s death. We love our son, we did what was right: we called the health centre to report our sick baby [and] we were refused medical attention for him.”

In response to an interview request for this story, Suramala replied by email that her statement is “a full release relating to this matter.”

“This matter is also subject to an ongoing external review. The Office [of the Chief Coroner] is awaiting the report from the external review and will be making no further comments at this time,” Suramala’s email said.

Health Minister Paul Okalik announced this past February that an external review would be held into government actions following Baby Makibi’s death.

That review, by retired lawyer Katherine Peterson, is expected to be completed by Oct. 31.