While thousands of patients are admitted to the four UCLA hospitals each year, some occasionally go unaccounted for and are found wandering the hallways of different facilities or the streets of Westwood.
Over the past year, university police have apprehended 39 people who were involuntarily committed and left the facility without permission, and the patients are referred to as “walkaways,” said Nancy Greenstein, director of police community services for UCPD.
Though “walkaway” cases do occur, university officials stress that they are very rare and do not pose a threat to the UCLA community.
Dr. David Feinberg, professor of psychiatry in the UCLA’s Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior and medical director of the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA, said many security measures are in place to prevent people from leaving, and patient safety is the No. 1 priority for staff.
Staff are “very careful” about locking and watching doors, he said.
People can be involuntarily committed if they pose a danger to themselves or others, and the law allows hospital officials to detain patients for 72 hours or more, but they do not actively seek to keep people, Feinberg added.
“We’re not a prison or jail,” he said.
He said when involuntarily committed patients leave the premises or supervision of officials without permission, they are referred to as “AWOL,” the abbreviation for “absent without official leave” used by military personnel.
Feinberg said the risk for patients going AWOL is highest when patients are being transported for treatment or recreational purposes.
In one “walkaway” case, Jayme Farrell-Ranker, a second-year communication studies and sociology student, saw a woman she thought might have escaped from the hospital.
Farrell-Ranker, a former Bruin News 29 reporter, said she was outside Peet’s Coffee in Westwood on Sunday afternoon when she noticed a young woman wandering around with hospital bracelets, wearing no socks or shoes.
She said she thought the woman looked like a homeless person, except she had the hospital bracelets.
When Farrell-Ranker called UCPD, she was told the patient had been missing. She followed the woman around as she circled a block until UCPD officers apprehended her in front of Rite-Aid.
“She wasn’t out of control (or) causing harm,” she said. “I was not scared, (I was) more concerned for her.”
She said she did not know what happened to the woman after UCPD arrived and escorted her back, but was impressed by the quick response.
Greenstein said the procedure is for officers to return patients to the facility. She added that it is not a crime to escape from a hospital, so patients will not be prosecuted unless they are facing separate criminal charges.
Feinberg said out of the thousands of patients in the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA, only a few go AWOL per year, and surveys have shown most patients feel safe in the facility.
He added that he believes there are multiple explanations for other reported cases. For example, he said the patients from the emergency room, which is part of the UCLA Medical Center, often choose to leave and when they are apprehended by police, their cases are categorized as AWOL.
“It’s very easy to escape,” he said, explaining that there are hundreds of patients and multiple exits. He said many patients who leave do not want treatment but are not trying to hurt other people.
Also, Feinberg said patients with dementia often wander away without any intention to run away.
Greenstein suggested that people who notice any suspicious individuals should contact UCPD.
“Call us and provide information about where they are and what they observe,” she said.
She added that if people are comfortable, they can stay and monitor the person until officers arrive.
“We don’t want (people) to put themselves in any jeopardy by following them,” she said.
Feinberg did not comment on any specific incident but said not every person wearing hospital bracelets is necessarily AWOL, and he encouraged people to treat others with respect and care.
“Just because they have a bracelet doesn’t mean they are an escapee,” he said. “(They) might have been a patient six months ago.”