A tragic story in England involving a patient with schizophrenia has come to light.
Two patients, aged 79 and 76, were beaten to death by another 70-year-old patient suffering from schizophrenia at St James Hospital in Leeds in 2015. A study was leaked to the Health Service Journal (HSJ). According to the investigation, the perpetrator allegedly did not take his medication because the treatment was stopped while the nurses in the psychiatric ward of the Hospital allegedly did not have adequate training for patients with schizophrenia.
The supervisory authorities admitted the mistakes and announced that measures are being taken to improve the situation.
The patient who allegedly beat other men was admitted to the hospital in January 2015 for cancer treatment. He had previously been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Investigations revealed that on the day of the attack, on February 26, he had been given sedatives as he had behaved aggressively. He hit one victim with his cane and injured his head, neck and arm, and when the second victim tried to stop him, he injured his legs. Both men died a few days later.
The perpetrator was immediately admitted to the psychiatric ward where he died of cancer 4 months later. Based on the findings of the investigation, it became clear that he had stopped the medication he was receiving for schizophrenia a month earlier, despite the warnings and reactions of his family.
The investigation states that the staff of the Hospital did not make a proper assessment of the patient's condition. In particular, it is reported that patients with mental illness and dementia are occasionally hospitalized in diabetic wards where nurses do not have adequate training.
It is also reported that the medical staff was not informed about his psychiatric condition and thus focused on his physical condition and his pathological picture.