Assult and battery of staff

[bradleau]

A few days ago I was slugged twice , once over the eye, once on my jaw by a male patient. This patient is a frequent admit,most staff know him well. He has a habit of doing just what he wants, roaming into other patients rooms,etc. This time he had disappeared in the back hall and had entered another patients room. I asked the patient to come with me as he was not in his room. Usually this is all that is needed. He was naked, as well, but then this is something that this patient does. NO I DO NOT WORK ON A PSYCH WARD! Yet the best thing would have been to have a lock on this patient's room and just watch him with a camera.

What I want to know now, is what are MY RIGHTS? Am I allowed to file police charges against this patient? I will be losing money and due to our workers comp law, the first 40 hrs comes out of my vacation pay. Which means I will not get a vacation that I have planned. This patient is not crazy. He is just known to be mean and to abuse women. I have been a nurse for over 30 yrs. Lucky to not have been attacked during that time I guess. My tech arrived in time to witness the assult, and the patients family witnessed it as well.

Due to some mess up with HR, I was not able to get the CT that the doctor wanted . This will be done tomorrow. He is looking for fractures.

So please just advice on what my legal options are. I know that my employer will not do anything to the attacker. Nor will anything be done to protect the staff in the future. ( such as lock down on this patients room, and a 24 hr male caretaker ).

Thanks.

[ShayRN]

I wholeheartily agree with everything said here. Just wanted to give you (((HUGS))) for what you had to endure. Now, call the police TODAY to file a report and an attorney FIRST THING in the morning. Your administration should be held responsible for allowing this man to be abusive for so long.

[EmmaG, RN]

for instance - why should you have to use your vacation time because you were hurt on the job?

in this state, the first 7 days off isn't paid by wc. once you've been off for 3 weeks, then you receive pay for those first 7 days.

it's imperative that she consult a lawyer who specializes in wc. trust me, i know this from experience (mine and my co-workers). the hospital's wc insurance carrier isn't going to look out for anyone or anything but their own interests.

our hospital used to tell us that if we didn't file an incident report within x number of days, then we were not covered under wc. that was a deliberate lie. under our state law, claims must be filed within two years from the diagnosis of the work-related injury or exposure, or up to five years after the incident/exposure. the law also states the employee has to file the claim with the commission; employers are not required to and will not inform their employees of their responsibility to do so, for obvious reasons.

"even if the employer has paid lost wages or provided medical care, it is still the employee's responsibility to file a claim with the commission. if no claim is filed with the commission or no award entered, the employer may stop paying medical expenses or wage loss at any time."

(from our state wc commission website)

[jenn27]

If your patient knew what he was doing, then by all means call the police!

And since when do you have to use vacation for workers comp. you have rights on that one too!:angryfire

[EmmaG, RN]

something else your employer won't tell you...

"if the injured employee cannot return to regular work and is given a light duty job at a lower wage, benefits are 2/3 of the difference between the pre-injury wage and the current pay up to the maximum weekly limit."

i know of nurses placed on light duty and/or had to work reduced hours after an injury. they were due benefits under wc law for this loss in pay, even though they were working.

[Batman24]

1) File an incident report TODAY if you haven't already.

2) Call the police NOW and press charges immediately.

3) Call an attorney FIRST thing Monday morning.

I'm sorry you were hurt. I really hope you take all these steps ASAP. It needs to be done.

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I am sorry to hear of the awful attack on you I hope you are able to get the compensation you deserve and i dont just mean financially.

You will be feeling traumatised dont be too hard on yourself. take care

[GilaRRT]

I would even say no further posting on this topic. Shut up and lawyer up.

[nyapa, RN]

One more question. Do you know of any other staff who have also been attacked by this man? Did they require assistance ie would it be recorded independently apart from hospital records?

[EmmaG, RN]

I would even say no further posting on this topic. Shut up and lawyer up.

Excellent advice. I edited my posts where I quoted her initial post.

[TRAMA1RN]

Even if this was a psych patient or a patient that was not in their right mind, someone is responsible for his behavior, even if he is not. File charges immediately against him and if you need to include administrators of your facility as well they are responsible for your safety and security at work. Especially if thei patient has a history of this type of behavior or not, I do not care if it was never fully documented everyone knows wh the abusive patients are and they need to start being held accountable. I for one am sick and tired of having to be responsible for everyone elses behavior.

[Runman1914, MSN, RN]

There is a misconception by patients that when they come into a hospital the law no longer applies. I have worked in the ER and seen numerous patients arrested for assaults and threats.

Often hospital supervisors put out the impression that patients cant be arrested. Because they dont want to deal with legal issues. They would rather the nurses get beat up.

[bradleau]

Belate update...I could not find an attorney to take this case. I guess it would not pay them enough. In December I finally got a tooth pulled, and a bridge made. Also had to get the bottom tooth pulled, too because it had been cracked. The state had to insist that the insurance company get these issues taken care of. Due to major health issues on my part this work had to be delayed in 2008. But if the insurance company had not dilly dallyed, I would have been taken care of BEFORE health issues were diagnosed.