Missing patient found inside Lethbridge hospital
Last Updated: Thursday, August 13, 2009 | 2:06 PM MT
CBC News
A missing patient has been found in relatively good health inside a southern Alberta hospital, almost three days after he disappeared.
Wesley Stanko, 55, was discovered in a third-floor mechanical area of the Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge, where he's believed to have been the whole time, according to his family.
Stanko suffers from a brain injury and had some other physical problems.
The hospital launched a search after he went missing on Sunday, but Stanko wasn't found until Wednesday morning by a maintenance worker.
Rose Stanko, Stanko's mother, told the Lethbridge Herald that her son had wandered through a maintenance door into the storage area, which was under construction, and fell between some steel pipes.
She said Stanko was dehydrated but otherwise in good health.
Officials with Alberta Health Services could only say that Stanko was found in a "non-clinical" and "non-patient" part of the hospital.
Doug Stanko said he was reluctant to blame hospital staff, who had looked into the storage area, because his brother was so far into the room, according to the newspaper.
The hospital is reviewing its policies and procedures to prevent a similar case.
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