A patient who walked away from Riverview Hospital three weeks ago has been discharged by hospital staff and is no longer considered missing, according to the Coquitlam RCMP.
Marc Veillette did not return to the facility on Nov. 9 after a routine evening walk and police said at the time he suffers from a mental disorder that can make him prone to violence, although a health authority official now says he's not dangerous.
But on Wednesday, Coquitlam RCMP Cpl. Jamie Chung told The Tri-City News that Veillette was scheduled to be discharged while he was missing and hospital staff have requested police stop their search.
"The hospital has considered him no longer missing," he said. "They are saying he was supposed to be discharged anyway."
Chung said it is important to remember that Riverview is a hospital, not a jail, and it is up to doctors to determine whether someone no longer requires care.
Several tips and sightings have been reported to police but Chung said there is no longer a need to follow up now that the hospital has officially discharged the 45-year-old patient.
Lubna Ekramoddoullah, the communications person for the provincial Health Services Authority, confirmed Veillette was discharged while he was missing from the facility. Citing patient confidentiality, she said she could not give specific information about Veillette's case and that it is up to physicians to decide whether to discharge a patient. She also said Veillette is no longer considered dangerous.
"It would depend on whether the treatment is working," she said. "They would look at [the patient's] behaviour and make that kind of assessment."
Last week Health Services Staff told The News that during the seven-month period between April 1 and Oct. 31, 55 cases of patients who had not returned to Riverview Hospital when expected were reported, which is an average of 7.8 cases per month.
That number is slightly higher than the 12 months prior to April 1, 2011, when 80 people, or an average of 6.7 cases per month, were reported, although those numbers reflect patients who may have simply been late returning to the facility.
Lynn Cook, the site operating officer at Riverview Hospital, said in an email that giving patients a certain amount of autonomy at the facility is part of their re-integration process.
