Missing patient found dead in bathroom

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority is investigating after a patient’s family says he was found dead in a hospital washroom.

Brian Childs had multiple sclerosis, used an electric scooter to get around, and was recently diagnosed with mesothelioma, a form of cancer often caused by exposure to asbestos.

His family tells CTV Winnipeg the 61-year-old was scheduled to be discharged from the Health Sciences Centre on the evening of Aug. 31, but they say staff told them earlier that day he was missing.

They say a police search discovered Childs hours later in a locked washroom.

His sisters Terrie Abrey and Sandra Klassen believe the hospital could have done more to prevent their younger brother’s death.

The family is still waiting for a final autopsy report.

“We both checked emergency just in case by some chance he ended up back in there,” Klassen said about what they did when they were told Childs was missing.

“To find out he was in the hospital the whole time ... he wasn’t out on the streets lost ... he was in their care, in their facility, locked in the bathroom, dead.”

The health authority said in an emailed statement it’s aware of the family’s concerns and that the case is being investigated as a critical incident.

Childs went to the hospital’s emergency room Aug. 19 because he was in pain, feeling sick and was having trouble breathing.