Inquest looks into how Thorold jail inmate died on prescribed methadone

A communication breakdown started a chain reaction with fatal consequences for Murray Balogh, 20, who died of methadone toxicity at Niagara Detention Centre. Balogh is one of five inmates at the centre of a coroner’s inquest into drug toxicity deaths of inmates at the Thorold jail. Detention centre staff found Balogh unconscious in 2022.

Despite lifesaving efforts by jail guards and Niagara Emergency Medical services paramedics, Balogh died at the detention centre. Dr. Todd Overholt, who oversees medical care for detention centre inmates, told the inquest Tuesday that when Balogh transferred from Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre, the transfer file that arrived with the prisoner contained no mention that he had yet to begin a methadone program.



Murray Balogh, 20, is one of five young men who are the subject of a coroner’s inquest into deaths in custody at Niagara Detention Centre in Thorold or after being transferred to Greater Niagara Hospital. Balogh died on Feb. 23, 2022.

If Overholt had that information, he would have had a nurse assess and monitor Balogh after starting methadone. Without that critical information, Overholt wrote Balogh a new prescription. “Depending on what that assessment found, further action may or may not have been taken,” Overholt said.

“The methadone could have been held until he saw the physician. It’s possible he would have been put on an intoxication watch. “There’s a lot of different variables.

This was important information that should have been shared with staff and myself.” Some of the prisoners in Dorm F didn’t notice Balogh having any problems, but others told investigators Balogh had been “high,” “intoxicated” and “messed up from the medication every time.” The Balogh family said in their statement to the inquest that Murray had been in foster care since he was nine months old and was named a Crown ward before they adopted him at age four.

“Murray had a rough beginning to his life, but we had a loving home that welcomed him,” the family said. “We gave him a mom, dad and brother, aunt and two sets of grandparents that made him a part of his own family.” The Baloghs said there are times when it is hard to believe Murray is gone, and they experience triggers that bring back a flood of emotions and memories.

“It could be a movie we watched, a game we played or a place we went, the memories come back and reality hits that he is gone,” their statement said. “Our son and brother, Murray, was just 20 years old when he died at the detention centre. “His life in the last few years of his life were filled with many struggles, but he should have been able to be safe in the custody and control of the system .

.. We will never again be able to make new memories together.

Our lives will never be the same, but as a family, we remember the good times and cherish the memories we made in our short time together.” After his surety was revoked, the Crown jailed Balogh at the Hamilton jail on Dec. 28, 2021.

The hearing into how five inmates died while in custody is expected to last 15 days and hear The doctor there, Dr. Mikhail Epelbaum, told the inquest he started Balogh on opiate agonist therapy with Suboxone in pill form to deal with withdrawal and cravings for opioid drugs, but he requested something stronger. Epelbaum was in the process of starting Balogh on methadone when he was transferred to Niagara Detention Centre on Feb.

14, 2022, before treatment began. The inquest learned that a transfer summary faxed to Niagara Detention Centre contained critical information that Balogh hadn’t started methadone treatment. However, Overholt didn’t see that fax until after Balogh had died.

“The medical chart where the fax should have gone was still in Hamilton, with Murray,” Overholt said. “Someone eventually took that fax off the fax machine stamped that the report was reviewed, but didn’t sign it,” Overholt said. “I don’t think a nurse saw this either.

” The inquest is taking place virtually, with presiding officer Dr. Richard McLean in Burlington, the inquest counsel in Toronto and the jury in Niagara. The witnesses and parties with standing will appear via video conference.

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