BRHC balcony barriers going up; suit settled out of court
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/03/2015 (4092 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Following two suicides and a lawsuit, permanent barriers are being installed on balconies that overlook the Brandon Regional Health Centre atrium.
The installation comes after a man, who was struck and injured by one of two people who jumped to their deaths, reached an out-of-court settlement with the health authority.
He said he’s glad to hear that permanent barriers are being put in place.
“It’s not really fair for anybody to be injured,” Rodney James McKnight said, adding that he can’t disclose the amount of the settlement he received, but he’s satisfied with it.
Installation of the steel and Plexiglas barriers, to be put in place on the second to fifth floors balconies of the hospital atrium, began on March 2 and the project is expected to be done by July 30 at a cost of $553,522.
They will replace temporary barriers that were installed in the summer of 2011, after two people leaped to their deaths.
Barriers are also being placed along a second-floor walkway that connects the main hospital building with the Assiniboine Centre.
On Dec. 31, 2010, a 51-year-old woman fell from the fourth floor to the atrium floor and died. It appears that she’d jumped, as police said at the time that no foul play was involved and it wasn’t an accident.
The woman was a patient at the Centre for Adult Psychiatry nearby and was on leave from the centre at the time.
Then, on July 8, 2011, a 31-year-old man — also a psychiatric patient at some point, but not a hospital patient at the time — jumped from the fourth-floor balcony.
He landed on McKnight, who sat in a wheelchair below.
McKnight subsequently filed a lawsuit against the Western Regional Health Authority, which later merged with other RHAs to form Prairie Mountain Health.
In the lawsuit, McKnight stated that he suffered a fractured leg, pressure sores and pain in his shoulders, back and right arm. He also suffered mental trauma.
He argued that, after the first death, the RHA should have installed barriers, monitored and restricted access to the balconies, and warned the public.
In December, that lawsuit was abandoned after the two sides reached an out-of-court settlement.
McKnight’s lawyer, Kelly Dickson, said the settlement includes a confidentiality agreement so she can’t disclose its terms.
As is standard in such a settlement, Dickson said there is no admission of liability on the part of the health authority. While he couldn’t reveal the settlement, McKnight said the payment he received covered medical expenses such as medications and wheelchair repair.
A Prairie Mountain Health spokesperson said the health region has no comment on the settlement.
» ihitchen@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @IanHitchen