That was quick. The CBC updated the story last night. After concluding their investigation, St.Michael's Hospital has fired two security guards they say are responsible for the assault on Hussin. President & CEO, Jeffry Lozon says the guards overreacted and should not have used the force they did. He also said an 'outside' organization will be brought in to provide sensitivity training for staff members. Video can be found here.
end of update~
recent allegation
The CBC has a follow up {see below} on this story from yesterday, in which an aboriginal man says he was severely beaten and had racial slurs directed at him and his wife by security guards at St. Michael's Hospital. Cliff Hussin, 36, admits he and wife Donna Oakes, were loud and drunk while visiting a relative at the hospital on February 4th, however that "doesn't give them the right to do what they did."
Hussin:
"They [security guards] started getting a little abusive to, like, Donna. They were grabbing her and telling her — telling us — 'you natives are nothing but trouble' and that we were drunks and will never amount to anything. It was horrible," said Hussin,Oakes said her husband was kicked unconscious by security guards and then dragged outside by his hair.
According to the couple they were taken home by police, but returned to the hospital by ambulance because Hussin was in excruciating pain. Hussin says he was discharged without any tests being done.
The next morning a nurse at an aboriginal health clinic put him in a cab and sent Hussin to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was diagnosed with three broken ribs and a punctured lung.
Hussin was then moved to Toronto General Hospital for 3 days while having blood drained from his chest.
In a statement released Thursday night, St. Michael's said it has "initiated a comprehensive investigation into the complaint and will respond directly to the complainants about the results of that investigation."
previous allegation
After learning of Mr.Hussin's story, a nurse who works with Toronto's homeless came forward saying she had written St.Michael's hospital last June when one of her patients showed up with injuries he said came from security guards there.
Keren Elumir from the Christian charitable organization, Sanctuary :
"I was horrified that this would happen at a place that's suppose to be a safe place,"Elumir also said after making a dozen calls, she was told to fax the complaint to a community worker at St.Mikes but never heard back.
"He had a tooth that had fallen out from the beating, he said. And we have that tooth on file still. And he had boot prints — bruises in the shape of boot prints — on his torso," she said Thursday.
The patient was an intravenous drug user who was waiting in the hospital's emergency room after suffering a seizure on the street.
He said he had yelled at a security guard who then dragged him to another room where several guards took part in the beating, Elumir said.
"Hospitals should be safe for everybody and … should be a place where people, even people that are addicted and mentally ill and maybe not very stable, can still be able to be kept safe."
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