A 64-year-old patient spent more than a day lying on the ground outside an Ottawa hospital after being discharged from the mental health unit where she was staying and falling, according to her daughter.
Christina Hajjar said her mother left Montfort Hospital last week “wearing nothing but a dress and slippers”. About 27 hours passed before the woman was found by police, her daughter said.
Hajjar asked her mother what she was doing during those long hours, waiting to be discovered.
“She said ‘I prayed and I screamed and I prayed and I screamed and when I couldn’t scream anymore I just thought I was going to die there.’
Christina Hajjar says her 64-year-old mother spent 27 hours outside wearing a sundress and slippers after being discharged from the Montfort Hospital mental health unit on Friday. Police found her lying on the ground near the hospital, where she had fallen.
Found near the hospital
Hajjar first learned that her mother had left the hospital when staff called her around 2 p.m. on June 10 to report that she had been discharged and had not returned.
The hospital told him they were looking for his mother, but it was only later that Hajjar learned that she had disappeared about five hours earlier.
Hajjar couldn’t help the search because she lives in Brampton, Ont., and had tested positive for COVID-19, she said.
After the sun went down on Friday, however, Hajjar decided to call the Ottawa police. Then, when she woke up on Saturday with no news, she reported her mother missing.
Ottawa police confirmed they received a call just after 9:30 a.m. Saturday about a 64-year-old woman missing from a hospital on Montreal Road.
The woman was found “near the hospital” by police at 12:12 p.m. and underwent a health check by paramedics, according to police.
The hospital “very concerned” by the disappearance
A Montfort spokesperson said the hospital was “very concerned” and apologized to the patient and her family. CBC is not naming the woman to protect her privacy.
The hospital is also conducting an internal investigation, according to an emailed statement.
“It is essential for us to understand what happened and to review everything that can be done to prevent this type of situation from happening again,” the statement said.
The hospital’s missing patient policy states that staff first search the person’s unit and other departments, including locked areas, and then hospital grounds, the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson did not say whether the hospital contacted police in the matter, where exactly the woman was found and why she was not spotted when staff searched the scene, saying this information was helpful. part of the internal investigation.
The mental state of the “fragile” mother after the ordeal
Paige Lennox, CEO of Canadian Health Advocates Inc., who has been a registered nurse for 28 years, said she would have contacted the police if someone went missing while receiving treatment on her unit.
“It surprises me a bit that the hospital hasn’t taken a more active role in its research,” said Lennox, whose company helps people navigate the healthcare system.
She described the situation as “worrying” because it is particularly important for staff to monitor vulnerable patients, such as those in a mental health service.
Hajjar said her mother admitted herself to hospital on May 21 but was never discharged. Hajjar has since spoken to Montfort officials and said she believes the hospital is taking the matter seriously.
Still, the incident had a big impact on her mother.
“It made his mental state much more fragile,” she said. “She’s just worse. Period.”
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