Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — Madinah Health Affairs Directorate is investigating the death of a mentally ill patient who died at Uhud Hospital an hour after he was found at the bottom of the hospital's emergency staircase last week, Al-Watan daily reported. Medical staff assigned to the late patient and the hospital's security personnel are being questioned. Police suspect the man fell from the stairs and landed a story below. A source reported a man in his mid-50s came to the hospital's emergency ward suffering from sodium deficiency in his blood. “After doctors checked him, they realized the patient was psychologically disturbed and was on medications to help him function in society. Doctors put him in a room and asked for a psychiatric evaluation,” said the source. He added that doctors ordered nurses to keep a close eye on him while they tried to transfer him to Al-Amal Hospital for Mental Health. “The patient waited until it was time for visiting hours and doctors became busy with another patient. Then he escaped from his room and wandered the hallways. The hospital's security personnel were searching for him until they found his body one story below the emergency staircase,” said the source. Doctors rushed the patient to the emergency room where they tried to resuscitate him, but the patient's heart stopped beating an hour after the incident, he said. Mental health consultant at the Jeddah Mental Health Hospital, Dr. Saad Al-Khatib, said there is no rule on how to deal with a mentally ill patient as each case is unique and it is hard to lay down a single set of rules for all cases. “A mental patient is either mentally ill or has neurological disturbances. The mentally ill patient deals with hallucinations; he hears sounds which do not exist and sees things which do not exist either. These hallucinations could push him to react in ways which could harm him or others around him,” said Dr. Al-Khatib. He added that mentally ill patients need specialists and psychiatrists with an academic background on mental illnesses. On the other hand, patients with neurological disturbances are to be treated like any other patient as they are mentally well and healthy. Ministry of Health Mental Health and Social Services General Director Dr. Abdulhamid Al-Habib said the ministry has a charter of mental patients' rights. “The charter includes patients having the right of protection from any harm around them, the right of physical liberty so they are not physically restrained or put in isolation without a medical reason and the right to efficient medical treatment,” said Dr. Al-Habib. He added it is the hospital's responsibility to ensure its patients are in a safe environment free of sharp or harmful objects.
