SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Stanton Territorial Hospital is defending itself again after a Fort Smith man, who was involuntarily administered into the hospital's psychiatric unit, went missing for several hours Monday. It marked the 15th time in the past six months RCMP have had to search for a patient who walked away from the hospital.

The man disappeared from the hospital grounds at approximately 5:15 p.m. Monday evening after being allowed out to smoke a cigarette. RCMP were notified of the disappearance at 7:15 p.m. and began searching for the man, who returned to the hospital on his own at about 10:30 p.m.

Kay Lewis, chief executive officer of Stanton Health Authority, couldn't comment on the specifics of the case, but said it is always a challenge to balance patient and public safety with human rights.

"It's a hospital, not a jail," Lewis said.

Patients who do not pose a safety risk to themselves or others are allowed out for fresh air, exercise and cigarette breaks, Lewis said, adding individuals on such temporary releases are monitored by security, hospital staff or sometimes family members.

"If they are escorted with family, the family is made well aware of their responsibilities and sign a document that they have taken responsibility for the patient," Lewis said. Because the hospital doesn't speak about specific cases, Lewis would not say how monitoring was done in this instance.

"The breaks are sometimes a way to reward compliance. For example, if they take their medication, they can go for a cigarette break," said Lewis. "Patients aren't usually allowed out at the beginning of their care plan, but as the patient progresses, we can give them a pass to spend time in the community or even to go home overnight."

She said there are penalties for patients who break conditions of their release. "Patients are aware that if they don't conform to the conditions they will have their privileges revoked and go back to square one on their care plan," said Lewis.

When asked what changes are being looked at in light of the recent disappearances, Lewis said the hospital is continually re-evaluating their care plans.

Sgt. Brad Kaeding of the Yellowknife RCMP said it is always a concern when somebody from the hospital goes missing.

"Our first reaction is that we're concerned about their safety and the safety of others in the community," said Sgt. Brad Kaeding.

"There is a heck of a lot of winter in Yellowknife and even in weather like this a person can still become hypothermic," said Kaeding. He added the time dedicated to searching for missing patients has also become a concern.

"If we have to engage a search team it is time taken away from other investigations and can mean a delayed response to emergency situations," said Kaeding. "In this case, the person was gone for a little over three hours and we had several people on shift doing nothing else but trying to find him."

"We've been in discussions with the hospital to come to an understanding of what we want and what they can do to limit this sort of thing," said Kaeding. "We would like to see fewer occasions when we have to use our resources to find someone who probably shouldn't be missing in the first place."

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