Schizophrenic patient's court experience spurs call for change

A Moncton man is calling for better services for people with severe mental illness after his mentally ill sister was charged with assaulting a hospital nurse and drawn into the justice system.

The Crown withdrew the assault charge against Lorette Ouellet on Monday.

Paul Ouelletsaid even though charges have been dropped, the experience has been stressful for his 60-year-old sister.

"This caused a lot ofstressto her and to me, taking someone from the psychiatric ward in isolation and bringing them to a jail cell and treating her the way she's been treated is a crime to me," said Ouellet.

Johanne Landry, a lawyerwho represented Ouellet free of charge, said her guess is the charges were dropped because there was not enough evidence to convict her client ofassault.

Diagnosed in university

Ouelletwas diagnosed with acute, chronicschizophrenia a biochemical brain disorder thataffects a person's ability to determine what is reality and what is not in herlast year of university, about 39 years ago.

It's not unusual for her to spend time in hospital because of her mental illness.

During such a stay in the Moncton Hospital earlier this year, Ouellet was charged with assaulting a nurse.

Her brother said he doesn't believe it.

"She said, 'Paul, I did not at all hit her, or I just managed to get her grip away from her arm and I walked to my bedroom,'"he said.

RCMP showed up at the hospital and Ouellet was taken from her isolation room in the psychiatric ward to an RCMP holding cell.

An officer "took her out of her room with the shackles on her wrists and in herrobefrom thehospital," said Paul Ouellet.

"It was a cold winter day and she left the hospital without a coat and without a hat or without any gloves."

Refused water in cell

When LoretteOuelletwas in the holding cell, her brother said she became thirsty because of the medication that she takes.

"My sister asked for some water to drink and she informed me that it was refused to her," Ouellet said.

Whenshe told me that, my heart just broke.- Paul Ouellet

"She said, 'I had to drink the water from the toilet bowl I was so thirsty.And when she told me that, my heart just broke."

She told her brother that she was then taken to court in shackles and wearingthe same gown that she had when she left the hospital.

"She said, `I'm being treated like a criminal when in reality Paul, I did not assault the nurse,'" he said.

Horizon Health Network will not make public it's policy on calling police to deal with patients.

The RCMP said it won't comment on individual cases, but said water is offered to prisoners and in some instances they are offered a jump suit.

A spokesperson with the province's department of justice says the government recognizes the impact mental illness has on people and their families.

In an email, media relations officer Anne Bullwrote, "As government we have the responsibility to treat each and every individual with dignity and we take this responsibility very seriously. Within our justice and court system, each of our detainees is evaluated to determine their specific levels of care and attention, regardless of the source. Each is treated with the appropriate level of precaution and supervision as the situation dictates."

The governmentsaysthere is no timeline, but thatit plansto bring back a mental health court.

Mental health court

Ouelletsaid he is relieved the criminal matters have been dropped, but believed a better system needs to be put in place for mental health patients who have encounters with the justice system.

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

"If we heard of this happening in undeveloped countries, we would be scandalized."

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.