Man found dead in locked hospital bathroom a 'very vulnerable person,' sister says

A 61-year-old man died while locked in a washroom at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre and now his sister wants answers from the hospital.

Brian Childs was a patient at HSC on Aug. 31 when he went missing and was found 12 hours later inside an accessible washroom on the main floor.

"What the hell are they doing there? How can they lose a patient and then find out that that patient is locked in a bathroom?" said Sandra Klassen, Childs' older sister.

Childs had mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer associated with exposure to asbestos, as well as multiple sclerosis.

"He didn't have much of a voice, so he really couldn't yell or speak very loudly. He wasn't able to use his legs. He was pretty much a very vulnerable person," said Klassen.

Childs, who used a scooter to get around, had been cleared to leave the hospital at 6 p.m. on Aug. 31. The hospital phoned Klassen that morning to ask if the elevator in Childs' building was working, and they had prepared his medication for him to take home.

When someone from the hospital phoned her around 10 a.m., Klassen ask how her brother was doing.

"And she said, 'Well, we haven't seen him yet. He's outside having a cigarette,'" Klassen recalled.

About three hours later, she got another call from someone at the hospital, asking if she had seen Childs.

A concerned Klassen went to the hospital and in the room where he had been staying she found her brother's shoes on the floor, clothes in the closet and keys in the night table drawer. But his scooter and some other belongings weren't there.

Klassen asked the hospital staff if they had reported him missing to the police.

"And the charge nurse said, 'No, that's not our job. It's up to the family to do,'" she said.

"And I was a little bit taken aback by that, because like, what happens in a case if they don't have any family? That should be up to the hospital. He's there in their care."

It wasn't the first time Childs had gone missing from the hospital. A few days earlier on Aug. 27, he showed up at the Husky gas station on Isabel Street shortly after midnight, dressed in his hospital gown and a light shirt.

"He was lost. He had no idea where he was," said Klassen.

A young woman at the gas station gave Childs directions back to the hospital, but the hospital didn't tell Klassen or her sister what had happened.

After reporting her brother missing to police on Aug. 31, Klassen then began phoning Childs' mobile phone. Police were able to see that it was within 500 metres of the cellphone tower closest to the hospital.

At first, Klassen feared someone had robbed Childs and taken his phone, leaving him lying somewhere. Around 8 p.m., she and her husband started driving up and down streets in the area looking for him, but gave up around 9 p.m. because it was getting dark.

Around 10:20 p.m., Klassen's sister in Sandy Hook, Man. got a call from the hospital. Childs had been found dead in a main floor bathroom.

The cause of death still hasn't been determined, Klassen said.

"They've ruled out heart attack, they've ruled out brain aneurysm and all that, but we still don't know exactly how he died, or even the exact time that he passed away," she said.

When Klassen and her sister went to the hospital the next morning, hoping to say their last goodbye, they were told they couldn't see their brother because his body was in a bad state of rigor mortis due to the time he had been dead in the bathroom.

Critical incident

In a statement, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority said Childs' death is being investigated as a critical incident but wouldn't comment much further.

"Per provincial law, critical incident investigations are confidential and privileged," the statement says. "We have been, and will continue to be, in contact with Mr. Childs' family, and we will continue to share with them what we learn."

The statement further notes that Health Sciences Centre has a protocol that directs staff on searching for patients believed to be missing or absent without official leave.

"Any question about whether or not the protocol was followed in this particular case would fall under the scope of the critical incident investigation."

'Something has got to be done'

Childs loved the outdoors, especially fishing and camping, and spent his winters in Florida with their younger sister, Klassen said.

"He was very headstrong. It had to be his way — that was one thing about him," Klassen said.

She's going to miss talking to him on the phone every day, she said.

"It's definitely hard. It's hard. You know, he was our brother."

Klassen wants the hospital and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority to be held accountable.

"Something has got to be done."