New Brunswick's ombud found psychiatric patients were forced to urinate and defecate on the floor and faced sexual and physical assault while improperly restrained by staff.

Ombud Marie-France Pelletier said stories from patients at the Restigouche Hospital Centre in Campbellton, shared with her office during an investigation into restraints and seclusion rooms, are very difficult to read.

Seclusion, or isolating a psychiatric patient in a separate room, and restraints, which limit a person's mobility, are meant to be used minimally with a patient who poses a danger — and only after staff have attempted to de-escalate the situation, the ombud said in a report released Tuesday.

Staff are also supposed to perform regular checks on a patient put under restraint or in seclusion.

But Pellet

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