Dustin LaFortune, seen in a recent posting to YouTube, has been in a Regina hospital since mid-April. (YouTube)

A missing man who was dumped at a Regina hospital with horrific injuries was admitted to a Calgary intensive care unit before he disappeared.

Dustin LaFortune, 26, has been recovering from burn, stab and beating injuries since April when he was found severely emaciated. His family believes his severe injuries are a result of prolonged torture by a former roommate. Regina police only confirm that they're investigating the assault.

LaFortune's family, who have been lobbying for justice on their own website, said they discovered he was admitted to a Calgary hospital last fall — unconscious and with a brain injury. LaFortune had been working for a moving company in the city.

According to medical records pulled by LaFortune's family, he had a collapsed lung as well as rib and spine fractures. CBC News has learned the incident was documented as a workplace accident but never reported to Occupational Health and Safety or the Calgary police.

The unreported case has frustrated family and friends. A victims' rights group wonders if LaFortune's assault following his release from a Calgary hospital could have been prevented.

"Perhaps if there had been some intervention back then, somebody may have been able to step in and help protect this young man," said Heidi Illingworth, executive director of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime.

Law requires reporting of gunshot, stab wounds

Alberta Health Services declined a CBC interview request. Dr. Trevor Theman, registrar for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta said reporting cases of violent crime to police at the time was up to the doctor's discretion.

"Doctors and other health-care workers are not in the business of doing police work. They're in the business of making people get better," Theman said.

However, Alberta law has changed since LaFortune was admitted to hospital in Calgary. Legislation adopted in April mandates health officials to report gunshot and stab wounds to police.

Emma Poole, a Calgary police spokeswoman, said if the law had been in effect a few months earlier, the outcome in the Lafortune case could have been different.

"In this case we would have heard about it, if not the day that he was brought in, very soon after," she said.

LaFortune's family reported him missing when he failed to show up for his cousin's wedding in Manitoba in April. He had moved from the province to Calgary in 2008.

Days after a missing person's report was filed, someone dropped off a badly injured LaFortune at a Regina hospital, where he remains.

With files from the CBC's Jennifer Lee