According to a report from Ian Jacques at Delta Optimist, the death of 14-year-old Kyle Losse was “a result of complications due to a stroke” back in January of this year.

The “autopsy showed that no nicotine was present in his system.”

Of course, that isn’t what was “reported“ when it happened.

While a tragic loss of life occurred – reporters took the liberty of manipulating circumstances surrounding the death and portrayed it as if it weren’t about the child at all.

It’s more tragic than this.
Kid taken to a hospital after fainting. Blood work& tests. Speculated nic OD. Because a vape. Hospital released him after 8hrs. WHILE HE WAS HAVING A STROKE. He got worse at home, rushed to 2nd hospital, they did CT scan& found a brain injury& he died

— Amelia Howard (@Amelia_RH) July 20, 2018

Aside from the obvious, reporters spent an enormous amount of time and emphasis on a device and nicotine. I’ll get back to that.

• One report stated (bold is my emphasis on all three) “The liquid he was inhaling tested positive for nicotine, a typical ingredient”.
• Another report said “I do feel there was some negligence on their part. I feel that more should have been done,” said Losse, who said the e-cigarette tested as nicotine, and not an illicit drug.
• A third report stated “A blood test determined that Kyle had nicotine in his system.“

This tragedy is not the first to be blown out of proportion by those (I assume) calling themselves professionals or “journalists”. Like other instances, the fact that there was an e-cigarette in the room in this instance –  may have had nothing to do with it.

I’ll repeat this: The “autopsy showed that no nicotine was present in his system.”

Jim McDonald covers this tragic story here:

Teen Dies After Hospital Mistakes Stroke for Nicotine Effects

Conjecture

This headline “Smash your kid’s vaping gear, grieving family says” from Randy Shore of the “Vancouver Sun” states:

“Fourteen-year-old Kyle Losse of Delta was using an e-cigarette in the bathroom of his family home Sunday when he fell and may have struck his head. ” was from this story.

Speculation

This headline “14-year-old Delta baseball player dies after fall while vaping nicotine” from Stephanie Ip and Lora Grindlay of the “Times Colonist” says:

“mourned by the local baseball community following his sudden death this week after falling while he was vaping nicotine” from this story

Manipulating

This headline in the Global News was: “Teen baseball player’s stepmom calls for stronger vaping regulations after his death” from Estefania Duran, Jesse Ferreras and Rumina Daya says:

“Kyle Losse died two days after he fell while vaping.” was from this story.

Thanks to Stefan Didak of Not Blowing Smoke for pointing this article is out to us on Facebook:

“Remember this fear-mongering story about vaping from JANUARY this year? Well, as it NOW shows, there was no nicotine in his system at all.”

“There has been speculation that Kyle’s brain injury was due to a reaction from nicotine, but the autopsy showed that no nicotine was present in his system.”

Here’s that story:

Losse died to complications from stroke: autopsy report

My tweet is much less important as Phil’s:

I don't see any of these reporters and 'news' outlets rushing to correct this.

I'm looking at you @VancouverSun @TheProvince @CKNW @GlobalBC @DuranEstefania_ @jesseferreras @rdayaglobal @stephanie_ip @timescolonist @TiffyCrawford13 & especially the ignorant @theGreenManblog

— Phil (@phil_w888) July 19, 2018

Who knows what

It seems to me, while the child was under direct medical care, had it been unadulterated knowledge in this case this could have been avoided. If the condition was due to nicotine, critical information and knowledge about nicotine would have been imperative to the medical staff.

While I typed this blog, I wondered about how long “nicotine” would be traceable in the body after death since it was stated “no nicotine was present in his system“.

According to Wikipedia (with links intact):

The prognosis is typically good when medical care is provided and patients adequately treated are unlikely to have any long-term sequelae. However, severely affected patients with prolonged seizures or respiratory failure may have ongoing impairments secondary to the hypoxia.^[4][33] It has been stated that if a patient survives nicotine poisoning during the first 4 hours, they usually recover completely.^[27] At least at “normal” levels, as nicotine in the human body is broken down, it has an approximate biological half-life of 1–2 hours. Cotinine is an active metabolite of nicotine that remains in the blood for 18–20 hours, making it easier to analyze due to its longer half-life.^[34]  (Source)

Acting on medical advice and information, the parents were under the impression “nicotine” was the problem.  What?

Staff checked Kyle’s vital signs and did a blood test. It came back negative for anything other than nicotine, which can be toxic. He was given fluids and potassium.

“I want Delta Hospital to acknowledge that this shouldn’t have happened,” stepmom Niki Losse said Thursday. “I feel like they chalked it up to a stupid kid using an e-vape and didn’t fully look at everything that happened.”

Education is expensive. Please understand critical information:

Nicotine is in everyone’s diet.

• “Nicotine is a normal part of the diet and everyone tests positive for it. In all of the large-scale clinical surveys where hundreds of subjects were tested, no person has ever tested negative for nicotine”

Overdosing:

• “It is regarded as almost impossible to die from ingestion of nicotine alone, because the dose required is so large; and because swallowing it induces a vomit reflex that expels it and an anaesthetic is required to prevent emesis (vomiting); and it is so rare to find any example of an adult dying from nicotine ingestion alone that the suggestion is that some other agent was also consumed as an anaesthetic or anti-emetic” .  (Source)

Questions

• I question “experts” and “Public health”. (I do that a lot.) A whole generation has been brainwashed into the nicotine myth. They have done a piss poor job of downplaying ignoring the role of nicotine in the body, and demoniziong it to their advantage. Wouldn’t – in triage (nicotine) be the lowest priority on any list of “causes”?

Education is expensive. In this case, medical advice was trusted and deadly.

• I question attending medical staff along with quality and level of care. Did they take the test and realize nicotine was going to show up? Did they even know everyone can test positive for nicotine? Were they seeking a “high” or alarming level?
• I question any reporter(s) for continuing a path of clickbait headlines. I’m waiting on a line in any story – about most anything – where its SO idiotic that reporters will exclaim “no e-cigarettes were found at the scene”.

To the reporters and editors who allow this unacceptable type of reporting: Stop leading the public on, start acting like professionals. Do your job.

Medical staff: Treating the symptom, not the cause – is never an effective outcome.

Horrible. Consider what had to have happened here. It's almost certain that the medical responders had never seen a nicotine overdose. Same people would have seen many strokes. The "threat-salience" of vape is such that they completely disregarded their own knowledge. https://t.co/Gzqg6Iu2ZM

— Oliver Kershaw (@ojkershaw) July 20, 2018

My condolences go out to the Losse family as they are still looking for answers surrounding their sons death.

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