EDMONTON – An Alberta judge has not made any recommendations in the case of a psychiatric patient who was fatally stabbed while he slept by his delusional roommate at an Edmonton hospital.
Judge Lawrence Anderson says an earlier review of Dwayne Roy’s violent death led to changes that have improved patient safety. He said further recommendations could restrict professional health staff who make difficult judgment calls on patient care.
In a fatality report released Thursday, Anderson detailed how Roy, who was in the Royal Alexandra Hospital under a Mental Health Act order for treatment of mild schizophrenia, was attacked early in the morning on July 30, 2007.
Jean Sheehy, a paranoid schizophrenic in hospital voluntarily, shared a room with Roy and two other patients.
Anderson noted that Sheehy had come to believe that Roy was the kingpin of a conspiracy to spy on him by CSIS, the RCMP, the CIA and the FBI.
While Roy slept, Sheehy attacked, stabbing Roy seven times, including once in the neck. The attack spilled out into the hallway where Sheehy stomped on Roy’s head before security broke things up.
Sheehy was found not criminally responsible of second-degree murder and the fatality inquiry was called to see if anything could be done to prevent future deaths.
Anderson noted that Sheehy was in the hospital for more than a month.
Initially he was “overly loud” at times, but not violent.But midway through his stay he got into a fight with another patient and had to be moved to a locked unit. His condition improved on medication and seemed to stay that way in the days that followed. He was even allowed to leave and check in his apartment the weekend before the attack.
An internal review after the killing led to two recommendations: that patients be searched every time they leave the hospital, rather than only on admission; and that risk assessments be built into a patient’s treatment early on.
Anderson found those sufficient.
“I have reminded myself that any recommendations can only address the issue of how future deaths might be prevented as opposed to how this death, with the benefit of hindsight, might have been prevented,” Anderson wrote.
“I caution myself that any recommendations for change should not serve to impose restrictions upon the professional judgment of those who are best suited to make the difficult judgment calls which are necessary to reduce the risk that psychiatric patients might pose to themselves or others.”
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