AHS delays judge's call for cameras in psychiatric unit

Alberta Health Services says it has no plans to move ahead with video surveillance inside patients' rooms at the psychiatric unit at the Medicine Hat regional hospital or any other hospital in Alberta at least not right away.

"There is no imminent plan," said Katherine Chubbs, the health service's chief officer for the south zone.

Instead, Chubbs says, they will review the data and evidence regarding in-room cameras and weigh the risks and benefits before a decision is made.

'Disappointing'

"It's a little disappointing, you know that these judges are bringing forth these recommendations but yet they're falling on deaf ears," said JuliePiche, whose brother-in-law committed suicide while in care. "How many more deaths need to happen before they do something about this?" asked Piche.

How many more deaths need to happen before they do something about this?- Julie Piche

The fatality inquiry report into the June2013 suicide of psych unit patient Glenn Piche was released lastAugust.AHS issued its official response to the recommendations in December.

Piche had a history of mental health problemsand had been a patient in the psych unit at the Medicine Hat hospital at least four times in the 10 years before his death.

• Read the fatality inquiry report here

Provincial court judge F.C. Fisher said all rooms in the psychiatric unit should be monitored by video cameras.
"The safety of the patients is more important than the privacy issues that might be argued," he said.

Fisher noted similar recommendations were made in previous inquiries regarding psychiatric units, "that all rooms in all psychiatric facilities be monitored by video cameras. This has not been undertaken by Alberta Health Services," wrote Fisher.

Piche's family says cameras would protect patients, keep them safe and possibly prevent suicide attempts.
"No. 1 is that they wouldn't be able to try to hurt themselves," said Julie Piche.

"For instance, with Glenn, it was an extra sheet that he went and got, so he had to take some time to tie this together.... But if there's video cameras in the room, there's no way someone would be able to do that, because you would obviously see what they're up to," she said.

The fatality inquiry indicated that five rooms in the psychiatric unit currently have video cameras, but the room wherePichewas founddid not. Hospital staff testified at the inquiry that Piche did not appear to be suicidal.

A psychiatrist who saw Piche told the inquiry she didn't think Piche was at risk of taking his own life.

'It's not black and white'

Chubbs says it's a complex issue that must consider the impact not only on patients' privacy, but also the care they receive.

"If you have a psychiatric diagnosis or a mental health condition, how does the presence of cameras, how does the use of cameras impact that diagnosis? So there's concerns around that as well," said Chubbs.

AHS says it will review the use of video monitoring for all inpatient psychiatry patient rooms and common areas in Medicine Hat and develop guidelines that it says will be followed.

AHS says it will also examine the use of video surveillance in psychiatric "restraint"and/or seclusion rooms.

"Consideration of the use of video surveillance would balance risk of harm with potential benefit and include situations in which the patient prefers its use and consents to the video monitoring," wrote Verna Yiu the president and CEO of Alberta Health Services in a letter to Alberta Justice.

Privacy, stigma top concerns

Yiu referenced a review of the potential use of video monitoring done by the Addiction and Mental Health Patient Advisory Committee.

"[The committee] did not support its use due to reasons of stigma, privacy and potential negative impact on the therapeutic environment," wrote Yiu.

AHS accepted six of the seven other recommendations, including the removal of all mechanisms from bathroom doors in the psych unit. Allrecords will be transferred into electronic form, staff will stagger the times they check on patients and patients' phone use will be more closely monitored.

The guidelines on the use of video surveillance is expected by the end of October 2018.

Bryan Labby is an enterprise reporter with CBC Calgary. If you have a good story idea or tip, you can reach him at bryan.labby@cbc.ca or on Twitter at @CBCBryan.