JP Patient Charged With Beating Roommate To Death At Arbour Hospital

JAMAICA PLAIN, MA — A former patient at Arbour Hospital in Jamaica Plain was arraigned on a murder charge today and held without bail following his indictment for the physical assault that claimed the life of 51-year-old John Duggie two years ago, said Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley in a statement.

Hameen Edwards, 41, of Dorchester was arraigned on an indictment returned Friday charging him with second-degree murder for the July 2, 2015, assault that led to Duggie’s death a month later. Suffolk Superior Court Clerk Magistrate Edward Curley ordered Edwards held without bail; Edwards’ attorney deferred argument on bail until the next court date.

Assistant District Attorney Ursula Knight, chief of the DA’s Elders and Persons with Disabilities Unit, told the court that Duggie and Edwards were patients and roommates at Arbour back in 2015, when a staff member heard a loud noise from their room at about 4:30 p.m. Another patient reported hearing shouting at about the same time.

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A staff member entered the room and saw Edwards striking Duggie before raising his hands and saying, “I’m sorry. Kill me.”

The room was in disarray and Duggie was suffering from a serious head injury. Edwards allegedly made statements at the scene indicating that he had an “altercation” with Duggie and fell on him.

Arbor Hospital staff called 911 for medical assistance and Duggie was transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He remained on life support until Aug. 2, 2015, when he was taken off life support and died as a result of his injuries. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said he died of complications from blunt force injuries and ruled it a homicide.

Still, it took a while to investigate, in part, because Arbour Hospital — which is owned by Universal Health Services, the largest owner of psychiatric hospitals and clinics in the country — did not notify Boston Police or Suffolk prosecutors of the assault.

Several days after the incident, however, the DA’s Elders and Persons with Disabilities Unit received a referral from the Disabled Persons Protection Commission regarding Duggie’s injuries. Suffolk prosecutors notified Boston Police homicide detectives of the referral and launched an extensive investigation in the Suffolk County Grand Jury.

"This delay is deeply disturbing and raises serious questions about administrators’ priorities in the aftermath of a serious and ultimately fatal assault on a patient. It also prevented us from examining the crime scene and victim’s injuries as they appeared shortly after that assault, and it led to protracted efforts to obtain evidence from the hospital that was crucial to building this case," said the DA in a statement.

Edwards was indicted and taken into custody on Friday and will return to court on Sept. 14.

Arbour Hospital in JP was under investigation in 2013 for two when staff failures cited in deaths at Arbour psychiatric centers, reported the Globe at the time.

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