A man is in life-threatening condition after being stabbed inside the emergency department waiting room at Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton on Friday evening.
The Edmonton Police Service said officers who were already at the hospital saw two men fighting around 6:15 p.m. and intervened.
A 42-year-old man suffered serious, life-threatening injuries and was treated at the central Edmonton major trauma centre.
Police said the other man, who was found with three-edged weapons, has since been charged.
In a statement posted to social media, Matt Jones, minister of hospital and surgical health in Alberta, said police and hospital staff quickly de-escalated the “unsettling” situation.
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“Their actions helped ensure the safety of those present and provided timely care to the victim,” he said.
“We recognize that incidents like this are unsettling. No one, patients, staff or physicians, should feel unsafe in our hospitals.”
Sarah Hoffman, the Opposition NDP health critic, said in a post on X that about 50 people, including doctors, nurses and other patients, witnessed the attack, and called the incident terrifying.
“Tonight, a patient was stabbed while waiting for care in the Royal Alex emergency waiting room. About 50 people witnessed the attack … from doctors to nurses to other patients. It was violent and terrifying,” she wrote.
Hoffman said the incident comes weeks after the Opposition called on the United Conservative government to address pressures in emergency departments.
“Over a month ago, we called on the UCP to debate the state of emergency department care in our hospitals and do something about it,” she wrote.
“To the patients and staff who witnessed this: you deserve better. To the patient who was attacked: you should be safe in our hospitals.”
Police have not released further details about the suspect.
Triage should be set up to determine who needs hospital care vs who needs to go see a regular doctor in their office. That’s the first step in improving waits. As long as the nurse has sufficient training in determining what cases require urgent care and which ones should be told to visit their doctor or a clinic. Half the people in the hospital waiting room shouldn’t be there in the first place. They’re usually the ones who end up causing the most trouble.
i have been to the royal alex emergency, compared to the University emergency the people waiting for attention are very different. large numbers are native and drunk, large numbers are immigrant families and various generations not sure who in the family needs the attention but the they are all there waiting, then there is people like me that slipped and broke their arm. There is a nurse that does triage but the numbers in the emergency are high, its crowded. The one member of the immigrant family said they are there for a family doctor. also noticed while surgeon was fixing my arm the immigrant family was being fed. Our institutions are simply over whelmed by to many people.
Well shouldn’t that be a sign there needs to be greater police presence in the city? And I ask, what came to Canada en masse through the 11 years of progressive liberal policies? The police aren’t identifying the criminal, because it might be someone that isn’t supposed to be in the country, or, a protected group because if it was a taxpayer, a real and true canadian their name, where they worked, what their political beliefs were, what they did in their free time, where they lived and so on.
Canada is creeping ever closer to being like Britain
Who is the guy in the green jacket being interviewed??? He’s whining about the UCP but who is he???
PPlease notice Police have not released the charged person’s name, because we don’t want you to become anti-Indigenous.
As society degrades it might be a good idea to have everyone carry some pepper spray? Who knows how bad this could have been without the police right there.
Stabbings in the ER are a statement of the failure of progressive social policies – NOT a failure of healthcare!
THE UCP IS ONE DIRECTION – OUT. THE SOONER THE BETTER.
The one comment that I haven’t seen here is the fact all these decisions have been made and approved by Daniel Smith and the UCP party. They destroyed our health system. It was the UCP that decided Edmonton does not need another hospital. Who gave out contracts to her friends? At the end of the day, the UCP and Daniel Smith do NOT like or even care for the hardworking citizens of Alberta. Until Calgary has had enough, we will continue to suffer. ELECTION!!!
NDP should be charged for wanting to incite even more issues like this in our emergency departments by what they just said: “To the patients and staff who witnessed this: you deserve better. To the patient who was attacked: you should be safe in our hospitals.” THIS is a call for people to attack the system we are now all dealing with and have since Trudeau overwhelmed our country with way to many new immigrants and not ensuring we had the services to deal with mass immigration. Not a problem fixed overnight.
I am sure New Deranged Party and Hoffman have a solution.
I was so neglected in that waiting room, sitting for hours wiht a broken L1 and a concusssion. I left in a cab and when my GP had me exrayed later on a few days later, he told me I broke my back. The ambulance attendance were on par with a this level of neglect. The cow I was originally sitting next to made me bend over to pick up something I tried to throw in tha garbage. Plus the whole attitude of that crew was cocky, belittling, and confrontational. That plus this awful hospital and I am glad I finally made it on my own and with the doctor’s help. I live about 3 mionutes from Alex Hospital and they dragged me all across to West Ed to what? why?
Smithy your premier here
We are going to shut down that darn unsafe hospital and going to open 50 mini hospitals for each of you 50 to go to
Em h care working on it now
These feral criminals should be incarcerated and they are for short periods.
But the homeless and judicial systems are big business that produce a lot of jobs and income, so it thrives.
It’s beyond disturbing that going to ER can actually get you killed. I’m glad the police were able to stop the attacker. I’m, however, disgusted with NDP’s Sarah Hoffman’s ridiculous statement.
NDP continues to be as useful as a teet on a bull. Noticed they always make it someone else’s fault and never admit it’s their own politics that pushed Canada into a downward spiral?
These criminals keep getting released with little or no consequences, time after time we see this. Why does the law favour those who commit these crimes? It needs to change!!!
Shame on you, Sarah Hoffman, for making this political so you can get your fat face in the news! If it wasn’t for your socialist party leaders keeping the Libs in power against citizens’ will, we wouldn’t be facing so many problems with everything today!
Sarah Hoffman, shame on you for making this political. It has nothing to do with busy emergency rooms. You had to get your name in the news to try and be relevant.
What tribe is the suspect from and why did they wander so close to civilization? Give them nwt to play neanderthals there and close the border to never see them again
Must be a crime story, days old, no names, no descriptions. Citizens live at your own peril….. ugh.
Thats what happens when hospitals let the homeless live in the emergency rooms
Sarah Hoffman’s remarks are typical of her party—- putting a political slant on an incident that had no relation to ER problems.
No name so……
Get the Gladue Report ready
Was he a foreigner?