Police intervention in psychiatric unit rare, says doctor

It's highly unusual for a patient in the psychiatric unit of the Moncton Hospital to be arrested and taken into police custody, says the chief of the psychiatry department at the hospital.

However, that is what happened to a 60-year-old woman with acute schizophrenia recently, leading a Moncton man to call for better services for people with severe mental illness.

Lorette Ouellet was taken into police custody after being charged with assaulting a nurse in the hospital.

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Dr. Dinesh Bhalla said he can't discuss individual cases for privacy reasons, but he says all efforts are made to keep patients in concentrated nursing care.

"The violence in psychiatric patients tends to be unpredictable so it can escalate very quickly and the nurses have a protocol that they follow, a white code policy," said Bhalla. "They have to exhaust measures to contain the patient from either restraining them physically so that they won't hurt themselves which is really our prime aim."

Code White

Horizon Health Network uses Code White as an emergency code in its facilities to describe an emergency situation in which a person poses an immediate physical threat to themselves or others.

Bhalla says usually hospital staff can defuse the situation.

"We've had 540 [Code White activations] all across Horizon in the past year," he said. "It's only been 40 times police have had to intervene."

"So when it escalates beyond a certain point where the nurse can not actually contain the patient … there's a whole team of people that actually get called in and they're there within a few minutes and then the white code is called."

Bhalla says sometimes physical or chemical restraints need to be used.

Patients are only removed from the hospital under extenuating circumstances, he said.

"When we cannot contain the situation or we know that the situation is completely out of hand, then the police is called and they always come in and they treat the patient with dignity. They know that they are mental health patients and the RCMP work wonderfully with us in terms of de-escalating the situation first."

Charges rare

Bhalla says Ouellet's case is only the second time he can recall where charges were laid.

The charges against Ouellet were withdrawn by the Crown on March 7.

Her brother Paul Ouellet believes a better system needs to be put in place for mental health patients who end up in the justice system.

"Definitely there should be a different, separate court for mental health patients," he said.

New Brunswick established a mental health court at the provincial court in Saint John in 2003.

But it was placed on hold in 2013 after the retirement of its founder, Judge Alfred Brien.

The province says it plans to bring back a mental health court, but there is no timeline.

Dr. Dinesh  Bhalla supports the plan for a mental health court.

"It's an excellent concept. It gives the dignity of the patient, it keeps them away from the criminal justice system." he said.  "It should be done as quickly as possible."

Bhalla says he would be willing to help with the reestablishment of a mental health court.