VICTORIA, B.C.: Claire Rattée, MLA for Skeena and Critic for Mental Health, Addictions, and Housing Supports is calling for immediate answers following the death of 22-year-old Ezra Cool in Vernon.
Cool, who was suffering from active psychosis, voluntarily sought help at Vernon Jubilee Hospital. After being assessed, he was certified under B.C.’s Mental Health Act, meaning he was involuntarily admitted and legally required to be under 24/7 supervision.
Six days later, wearing hospital pyjamas and socks, he escaped.
Hours later, he was struck and killed on Highway 6.
“This never should have been able to happen,” said Rattée. “When someone is certified under the Mental Health Act, that means the state has taken responsibility for their care and safety. If a patient in active psychosis can walk out of a hospital undetected after nearly a week under supervision, then the safeguards clearly failed.”
Rattée noted that this tragedy comes amid ongoing instability in Vernon’s psychiatric services, including recent mass resignations of psychiatrists that have raised serious concerns about staffing levels and patient oversight.
“You cannot have safe care without adequate staffing,” she said. “You cannot promise 24/7 supervision if there aren’t enough trained professionals on the floor. Families are being told the system will protect their loved ones. In this case, it didn’t.”
Rattée said the government must answer several urgent questions:
- How was a certified patient able to leave undetected?
- Were proper supervision protocols in place?
- Were staffing shortages a contributing factor?
- What changes will be made immediately to ensure this never happens again?
“Ezra did exactly what we tell people to do when they are struggling, he asked for help,” Rattée said. “His family trusted the system to keep him safe. They deserve accountability. And British Columbians deserve to know whether their loved ones would be protected in the same situation.”
Rattée is calling on the Minister of Health to provide a full public explanation and to conduct an independent review into the circumstances surrounding Cool’s death.
“This cannot be dismissed as an isolated incident,” she said. “When psychiatric services are destabilized and oversight fails, people die. The government cannot keep claiming the system is working when parents are burying their children.”
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