Hospital Overcrowding Blamed for Ambulance Theft

A psychiatric patient who did not receive much needed emergency care slipped past security and into a running ambulance at University of Alberta Hospital last month.

Published: December 17, 2014Author: CS Staff

A psychiatric patient stole an ambulance from University of Alberta Hospital on Nov. 28 after he was turned away for emergency psychiatric care because the department was already at capacity.

The patient was sent back to the hospital’s waiting room and slipped past security. He then exited through the hospital’s front doors and got into an ambulance that might have already been running, CBC News reports.

Police apprehended the patient and he was admitted to the hospital after his arrest. He is now facing charges related to the incident.

An official from the EMS workers union said the hospital’s lack of capacity was to blame for the incident.

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