Debts . 7 Lawyer's failure means = couple asked to pay court a dills for negligent doctor , Robert Gaister i News Reporter robert@nsnews.com THOMAS Cranwill was born in 1989 at Rockyview General Hospital in Calgary, Alberta. At six pounds, 11 ounces, he was to be in the middle of a planned three-child i family. “You have a healthy baby boy, congratulations,” che hospital’s doctors said to the couple before they made their way home. Little did Dean and Ashicy Cranwill know at the time that Thomas would be forced to wear a protective helmet for the majority of his life. The family of four — the Cranwills already had a two- B year-old daughter — embarked on their life together like every other family with a new addition, exhausted yet appy. a Ohen, a series of events slammed the door on their joy, leaving the pall of tragedy draped over the Lynn Valley couple like a veil. Thomas was far from being a healthy boy and would, in fate never get a taste what most people refer to asa nor- mal life. He was born with a defective heart, bur the condition was not immediately apparent to cither his beaming par- ents or attending physicians. A pediatrician at the hospital did notice some alarming signs and told the Cranwills’ doctor to order an electrocardiogram. Ashley Cranwill remembers doctors at the hospital referring to the symptoms as a heart murmur, but in court in 1993 the doctors distanced themselves from the spot diagnosis. Thomas was released from hospital after a mostly rou- ® . tine three-day stay. -° "As it turned out, the electrocardiogram results would have shed light on Thomas’s condition. However, a mixup at the hospital meant the report never made it to the doctor. A week passed before Thomas’s condition suddenly deteriorateé on the cighth day. The Cranwills phoned their family doctor, but he was too busy to sec them. A ~ walk-in clinic in Calgary directed them to a children’s hospital emergency department. By the time they arrived, eight hours had passed. Staff at the hospital told the frantic parents another 15 minutes would surely have seen the infant die. Again, medical practitioners testified that they did not recall making the comments. Thomas was rushed to Edmonton, where he underwent three emergency surgeries attempting to fix his faulry heart. His weakened state did not bode well for the outcome and during the second surgery, his heart stopped a number of times. The results were devastating. Eight years later, the damage done is obvious. You have only to look at Thomas to know some- : thing’s not right. Back in 1990, the Cranwills sought advice from as many professionals as possible before they came to the conclusion they only had one option — they took the people responsible to court. _ On their own, they knew they would not be able to finance anything cven approaching the best care for their child. Merciy adequate care would be stretching their budget which is funded by exclu- sively by Dean, who works as a sales rep at an industrial products company. Ashley spends her time taking care of Thomas. If courts house justice, the keys to the front door are made of cash -- lots of it. To raise the sum necessary for a court battle, the Cranwills borrowed from every source imagin- after birth: ‘a healthy baby boy.’ |News for sale sign up ASHLEY Cranwill and her eight-year-old son Thomas are unlike- ly to spend another Christmas together. Inset, Thomas shortly Wednesday, January 14, 1998 — North Shore News - 3 of ill hoy able, including taends and family. The case seemed a sure thing. After vears of legal wrangling they were proved right and won their case — sore of. The doctor who did now seek the results of the electro- cardiogram and discharged the baby was found negligent, but somehow the costs of the proceedings for both sides were assessed to the Cranwills. The reason for the decision, according to the presiding judge’s findings, was that the Cranwills’ lawyer failed to draw a line berween the neyligence of the doctor and the brain damage thar subsequently occurred. The bills came to nearly $300,000, a total that did not include the lawyers’ time. The Cranwills were convinced something horribly wrong, had just taken place. “The lawyers felt very good about the case. ‘That's why they went on a contingency basis,” said Ashley. The decision came just before Chnstmas — 18 months after the trial had concluded. But a Christmas present it was not. Following in the footsteps of those dissatistied with the legal process, they appealed. Bur it wasn’t easy. Their desperation grew more pronounced with cach passing dav. The hard-to-swallow idea that they would be unable to pay back the morey they had scrapeci together was becoming evermore likely. Detaulting on loans made to them by people that could not afford to lose the money was not exactly palatable. Later, losing the appeal hit Ashley like a ton of bricks that extracted grief she didn’r know she had in her. “The appeal was a farce; it took us nwo years to get it (to court) and it took 15 minutes (to dismiss it),” said Ashley. If getting there was hard, getting over it was and con- tinues to be next to impossible. “We're done,” said Ashley. “We've gor dozens of people who desperately need their money back.” The doctors, through their lawyers, have handed the Cranwills an olive branch — one covered in slime, but something nevertheless. In exchange for agreeing that the doctors’ costs have run to $120,000, not half that amount as the Cranwills have alleged, the good doctors are willing to pay their own share of the court costs. “I just don’t trust it,” said Ashley, “because the justice a i ‘ system has let us down so many times.” NEWS photo Cindy Goodman But beggars can’t be choosers. Although they're too proud to beg, life is painting them into an ever-smaller cor- ner, leaving them fewer and fewer choices. Ashley smells a a and the proposal still leaves her own creditors high and ry. For most, contacting the media is a last resort. Like a court hearing, one’s priv ite affairs can come up and unlike a legal proceeding they are always pre- sented for very public ccnsumption. It’s a double-edged sword thar can cut indiscriminately any which way. The Cranwills’ life isn. filled with choices though, so they're willing to rake their chances. “We would hope to get some help — if we could at least get the first $100,000 back because peo- ple are really pressuring us,” said Ashley. “And just to let people out there know that when you go suc a doctor, this can happen.” She is referring, to more than just the debts she has incurred in the process because at the heart of this saga has always been and continues to be Thomas, her now eight-year-old son. In the course of his life, Thomas has been diagnosed with the following ailments: brain damage, cerebral palsy and a loss of voice and hearing mixed with a partial loss of vision. “His prognosis is that he’s dying and there’s probably not a long life here for him,” said Ashley. There were no tears with the words. A person can only take so much suffering before instinctive self-defence mechanisms take hold and build a wall around a person’s psyche, leaving only the facade of emotions, devoid of the ups and downs of day-to-day existence. “I don’t know how many times ve cried myself to sleep,” she added as if to reaflirm the obvi- ous. “It’s so much more tragic because it doesn’t look like Thomas will make it to next Christmas.” HORE NEWS TIMELINE . THE North Shore News has been publishing in one form or another since 1969, when Robert Galster News Reporter roberzt@nsnews.com ‘: THE winds of change may soon be blowing through the _ Lonsdale Avenue offices of the North Shore News. A federal competition tribunal deci- sion handed down last weck calls for a change of ownership of a Lower Mainland chain of real estate publica- tions or the News. Lower Mainland Publishing Limited (LMPL), a subsidiary of Canadian pub- lishing giant Southam Inc., has owned both the News and the Real Estate Weekly chain since 1990. LMPL’s purchase of the North Shore News and its Homes insert gave rise to a complaint by a group of realtors who said the purchase reduced real estate advertising competition on the North Shore. The competition tribunal agreed ‘with them. More than five years after "thar decision was made, an attempt by LMPL to vary the ordet has failed. “Obviously, we're disappointed in _ the result,” said LMPL president and chief operating officer John Collison. ——. “This really puts us back to the original remedy order.” Competition tribunal hearings into the allegations of reduced competition commenced in 1991 and led to a 1992 decision. That decision stated that an appropriate remedy to the existing state of affairs included LMPL selling its interest in either the News or the Real Estate Weekly chain. By March 8, 1993 the terms of the order were handed down by the tribunal and gave LMPL 180 days to comply. The tribunal’s decision did not sit well with LMPL, which pursued various avenucs of appeal. These culminated with a Supreme Court of Canada deci- sion handed down on March 20 of last year, The land’s highest court upheld the tribunal’s 1993 decision, and LMPL was once again bound by the 180-day period in which to sell cither the real estate chain or the News. On July 28, 1997, LMPL attempted to convince the tribunal to vary its orig- inai order to instead call for the sale of only the North Shore edition of the Real Estate Weekly, not the entire chain. Further, LMPL put forth a proposal thatthe buyer of the North Shore edi- tion be Michael Delesalle, who had recently purchased controlling interest in The North and West Vancouver Voice, a North Shore publication which started publishing in fuly 1996. Delesalle was best known as the owner of the Lumberland chain of home improve- ment supply stores, which he sold in 1996 to Revy Home Improvement Centres. LMPL argued that a marriage berween the North Shore edition of the Real Estate Weekly and the Voice was a good match that wouic alleviate any reduction of competition that may have occurred. However, the tribunal turned down the proposal, in part because it was not convineed the Voice was a viable publica- tion and had a high risk of becoming insolvent. “All the evidence relating to the Voice is negative,” states the tribunal's written summary. “It appears that Mr. Delesalle has found himself in a position of invest- ing in the Voice without having done any analysis as to its viability ... The financial estimates placed in evidence are, to say the least, unsophisticated.” As a result, LMPL is once again fac- ing a choice of selling either the News or the Real Estate Werkly chain in its entirety. The deadline for the sale of one or the other is 50 days starting Jan. 12. founder Peter Speck put out the first edition from his home. The following is a chronology of significant dates in the paper’s 29-year his- tory: @ 1969 — The North Shore Shopper, a weekly publication, is launched; B 1976 — The Sapper becomes the North Shore News, publishing every Wednesday; B® 1977 — The News publishes its first Sunday edition, per- manently moving to a nwice-per-week schedule; @ 1984 — The first Friday edition is published, moving the News to a three-issues-per-week format; @ 1989 — Speck sells 49% of the North Shore News to Lower Mainland Publishing Limited and retains post of publisher; @ 1990 — Speck sells outstanding 51% of shares; @ 1990 — Competition tribunal receives complaint alleging LMPL's ownership of both the News, its Hames insert and the Real Estate Weekly chain reduces real estate advertising competition on the North Shore; 8 1993 —- Competition tribunal orders LMPL to sell either the North Shore News or the Real Estate Weekly chain; @ 1997 — Following two appeals, a Supreme Court of Canada decision upholds the tribunal's findings and orders LMPL to proceed with the sale; @ 1998 — An LMPL application to the competition tn- bunal to have the 1993 order amended is turned down, fore- ing LMPL to once again decide whether to sell the North Shore News or the Real Estate Weekly chain. The company has 50 days to decide and implement its choice. . _ > Robert Galster