Patient killed in hospital psychiatric ward

No information is available as to what medications the man was on. Seen in this report.

A 34-year-old psychiatric patient who was set to be released from hospital has been charged with killing his 57-year-old roommate.

The two men were staying in the same room in a low-risk psychiatric ward at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton.

Each appeared to be asleep when nurses checked their room early Monday morning, said Nancy Fraser, senior operating officer for Capital Health's regional mental health program.

Staff in the ward heard a commotion just minutes later, and came in to find the men injured.

The two men had no history of violence toward staff or other patients, Fraser said.

Both patients were taken to the emergency room for treatment, where Dwayne Roger Roy, 57, was pronounced dead.

Police wouldn't comment on the weapon used in the attack.

"We clearly had a tragedy in one of rooms this morning," said Dr. P.J. White, head of psychiatric care with Capital Health.

"This is clearly not a situation we're used to dealing with."

This is the first homicide at the Royal Alexandra.

The 34-year-old man, whose name hasn't been released, was treated and released into police custody, Fraser said.

He now faces criminal charges, police spokeswoman Karen Carlson said.

Two registered nurses and two licensed practical nurses were on duty when the altercation took place.

Roy was a certified patient who was required to be in care.

The 34-year-old man had admitted himself to hospital voluntarily. Staff expected him to be released this week, Fraser said.

Patients in the hospital ward are visited each weekday by a psychiatrist, Fraser said. An emergency psychiatrist is available on weekends, but she couldn't say if either man was visited by one last weekend. All assessments indicated both men were stable.

"One cannot absolutely, totally predict that something's going to happen. It would be a miracle if we could," White said.

"The indicators suggest (the man in custody) was relatively stable."

Higher-security care beds are available for psychiatric patients. Both patients were deemed to be low-security risks, White said.

Following Roy's death, the United Nurses of Alberta issued a release outlining their ongoing concerns with security in the province's psychiatric wards. The nurses are asking that a special constable be placed in each ward.

"This tragic death could possibly have been prevented if some of the concerns of the nurses working on the psych units had been listened to," union vice-president Bev Dick said in the release.

Tom Shand, executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association, said security at the Alexandra is satisfactory.

"I think it's a credit to the level of security that they don't have more incidents like this, period," Shand said.

"It's a volatile environment, and I think they handle security pretty well."

In addition to the police investigation, both a provincial fatality inquiry and a Capital Health investigation, led by White, will look into the man's death.