The family of a man who died at the Whitehorse detox centre last year is unhappy with the results of an inquest into his death, their lawyer says.

Susan Roothman said Thursday that the family of Robert Stone believes more could have been done to determine how he died.

Six jurors heard testimony from 22 witnesses over four days earlier this month and ruled that Stone died of "undetermined natural causes.”

The 34-year-old, who had a seizure disorder, was found dead in his bed at the detox centre on May 2, 2010.

He had been released from the Whitehorse Correctional Centre the day before his death and later ended up in police custody after hitting ambulance personnel who had picked him up in the parking lot of the Petro Canada station on Fourth Avenue.

After he spent some time in cells, the RCMP called an ambulance when Stone complained of feeling unwell.

He was treated and released from Whitehorse General Hospital in the early hours of May 2. Shortly after 4 a.m., he checked himself into the detox centre.

At about 10:40 that morning, staff found him dead.

The jury determined Stone died at around 8:30 that morning.

Staff admitted during the inquest to not doing proper hourly checks on Stone the day he died.

"My clients feel that in cases like this, it is the obligation of the coroner to (ensure) quality control, especially the pathologist report.” Roothman said. "Where there is a finding of undetermined causes, the coroner should look for a second opinion.”

Roothman claims she had spoken with another pathologist who disagreed with the findings of forensic pathologist Dr. Charles Lee.

In his report, Lee listed Stone's cause of death as "undetermined.”

The second pathologist believed Stone died of positional asphyxiation, she said, which would have led to the death being ruled unnatural and accidental.

"Family's don't have the money to bring in expert opinions, we tried, there wasn't any money for it,” Roothman said.

During the inquest the lawyer questioned Lee on positional asphyxia, a condition where a person's position prevents them from breathing properly.

At the time Roothman pointed to light spots, or blanching, found on Stone's nose and mouth during the autopsy which show he died laying face-down on the bed.

The lawyer suggested these marks indicate Stone died after having an unwitnessed seizure and being unable to turn his head from under the pillow that was covering his face when he died.

Lee testified he could not exclude that as a possibility, but said there was not enough evidence to be certain of any one cause.

Chief Coroner Sharon Hanley said Friday that Lee's report was complete and that she "saw no indication of anything that would require a second opinion.”

Hanley said she was not aware of the family's desire to call a second pathologist.

Roothman is also critical of Lee's final report which falsely states that Stone had a seizure in the hospital before he died.

The doctor testified he had misread the medical records at the time, but told the jury that mistake did not effect his final ruling.

"How can you accept that he had a generalized seizure in the hospital and that does not have an effect on your eventual findings,” Roothman said.

The lawyer is also critical of Hanley's decision not to allow records of Stone's activities and sleep patterns while at the correctional centre to be included as evidence.

The coroner ruled then — and still believes — that those records, which state what Stone was doing when staff at the correctional center looked into his cell, were not relevant.

The family believes mistakes were also made when the toxicologist did not run any tests on Stone's blood after he died, Roothman said.

Toxicologist Dr. Walter Martz told the jury that it is not common practice to test post-mortem blood in cases like this unless his office receives instructions from either the pathologist or the coroner.

Instead, Martz tested blood taken from Stone while he was in the hospital before he died.

Using blood taken from a dead body can effect test results because blood begins loosing water after a person dies, Martz testified.

"Nobody knows what Robert had in his system after he died because the post-mortem blood was not tested and I think that is a big mistake in this case,” Roothman said.

Roothman went as far as suggesting the Yukon follow in the footsteps of other jurisdictions like Manitoba and hold inquests in front of judges.

"You have a coroner working closely with the police and the government and then the coroner is supposed to do an inquiry into something that has to do with the police and the government,” she said.

Hanley said she is pleased with how the inquest went and believes that everything necessary and relevant was made public.

"I understand it is difficult but sometimes there are things you can't see on an autopsy and the best you can do is come up with some possibilities for how someone died, but you can't be certain,” she said.

At the end of the inquest, the jury made five recommendations, including calling for a sober-living facility to be built in Whitehorse and requiring staff at the detox centre to get annual retraining in patient monitoring policies.

Stone's family is concerned that without a cause of death, none of the jury's recommendations, which are supposed to help prevent similar deaths, will be taken seriously.

"You have recommendations that have no teeth,” she said. "Why would anyone follow through on recommendations to prevent a natural death. It doesn't make sense”

The jury ruled Stone died at approximately 8:30 a.m., about two hours before his body was found, Roothman pointed out.

"If they had checked properly at 8 o'clock, maybe this wouldn't have happened, we'll never know.”

Roothman said she hasn't had a chance to discuss with the family whether or not these concerns could lead to further litigation.