MONTREAL - New evidence was presented on Wednesday at the trial of a Westmount naturopath facing allegations of manslaughter.
Mitra Javanmardi began treating 84-year-old Roger Matern in 2008 when he came to see her for heart problems. According to witnesses, Javanmardi gave Matern an intravenous injection of magnesium at which point he started feeling violently ill.
Matern died at the St. Luc hospital the next day, June 13, 2008.
The new evidence was collected a week after Matern's death, when the Montreal police raided Javanmardi's office and found her giving a patient an IV.
According to transcripts presented in court, Sergeant Detective Mario Lambert asked Javanmardi, "Do you realize that the College of Physicians says that you don't have the right to give IV treatments?"
Javanmardi responded, "I was trained in naturopathic medicine. The laws depend on who issues them […] My training allows me to do it everywhere else in Canada."
Lambert finished the conversation, "I'll give you some friendly advice: You should stop, because Mr. Matern has died."
Arrested four months later on charges of manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death, Javanmardi's defence is seeking to have the exchange excluded from the trial. Her lawyers argued that the police failed to respect her right to remain silent.
The two Montreal police investigators present at the trial confirmed that Javanmardi was read her rights and was given the opportunity to contact Julius Grey, her lawyer, who told her to remain silent.
The judge will need to rule if Javanmardi was tricked into providing the evidence before the trial can continue.
The College fined Javanmardi on at least two prior occasions for practicing medicine without a license. The College says that only medical professionals should be giving injections
"She didn't have the right to give intravenous treatments and we'll show the proof," said Prosecutor Helen di Salvo.
The defense said that Matern was aware that Javanmardi was not a medical doctor but came to her because he did not trust modern medical treatments.
"I took for granted that she was not a medical doctor, but her title began with the letters Dr. So I trusted her," said Denise Matern, the 82-year-old widow.
