I was slapped by a patient

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It wasn’t about the fact that he was a patient and I was his nurse. It was about the fact that he was a man who slapped me out of rage, when I had no control over his plan of care at that point ( he was discharged from ER because his labs/tests came back clear, he didn’t want to leave because he had nowhere to go). It didn’t strike me with empathy because he didn’t feel well and wasn’t himself. It striked me with fear, because a man twice my size wanted to hurt me. I just wanted to share this. To get it off my chest.

See, I hate that there is this "nurses has to take BS" rule! We are constantly getting walked over...and take some time off if you can afford that to decompress.

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This type of behavior needs to be reported and that is the only to get the word out that this behavior will not be tolerated at your facility. I do not know where this incident happened, but in Texas it is a third degree felony.

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I’m so sick of being told it’s ok for patients to hurt us and there is nothing we are suppose to do about it. We’re told you should expect this because you became nurses. No that’s not right I didn’t become a nurse so I could be abused by patients. What’s worse is so many times they know quite well what they are doing. I once had a patient grab me by the throat and was told by my boss it was my fault for trying to prevent him from falling. Her theory was he has a right to fall. I’m sorry I have an obligation to try and keep him safe don’t I?

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It is assault and battery! He had no right to do that..sick or not. Since nursing is still almost all women, we are taught as children to take and take and take.
nursing reinforces that because we are to care for everyone and not make judgements. BUT - there is are laws to protect us. We need to use them!'
I am so sorry this happened to you but you should not just step back and take it. None of us should. The facility needs to protect its staff...not sure that many of them see that as their responsibility because they work nurses to death. Please take action against this patient so it can set a precedent for other nurses.

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Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

Glad you filed the police report.

To KrispyKritter: I am sorry no one listened to you... I was tackled to the ground along with my charge nurse, and bitten hard enough to break the skin on my forearm, with a 6x8 inch (not cm!) bruise and swelling around it, still have the scar. The police responded immediately, interviewed the perp (who was still in restraints), took witness statements from everyone; she was convicted of 2 felony counts of assault on a health care worker. I only had to appear once to the Grand Jury; she took a plea deal (had other charges as well). She blew her parole, don't know if she did much time but the county inmate logs show multiple arrests and charges over the years.

Not all police departments are useless.

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Specializes in NICU/Neonatal transport.

I think definitely there is grey area when there are questions about competence or if there is an illness interfering with rational thought, but cases like this are not those at all. I don't understand how those can be not prosecuted?

I work in a NICU and we don't put up with ***. If a parent threatens someone, security comes and takes them away and they lose visiting rights unless they are accompanied by security or some other accommodation. And if someone were to assault in anger? I haven't seen it happen in my unit, but I would definitely hope we would support pressing charges. From everything I've seen through the three hospitals I've worked at, there would be charges.

I'm very sorry this happened to you. I hope you get some good support at your job. :(

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
19 hours ago, JBudd said:

Glad you filed the police report.

To KrispyKritter: I am sorry no one listened to you... I was tackled to the ground along with my charge nurse, and bitten hard enough to break the skin on my forearm, with a 6x8 inch (not cm!) bruise and swelling around it, still have the scar. The police responded immediately, interviewed the perp (who was still in restraints), took witness statements from everyone; she was convicted of 2 felony counts of assault on a health care worker. I only had to appear once to the Grand Jury; she took a plea deal (had other charges as well). She blew her parole, don't know if she did much time but the county inmate logs show multiple arrests and charges over the years.

Not all police departments are useless.

And evidently not all management is useless.

The unit where I was working many moons ago had a visitor that brought his "service dog." The dog was an enormous, filthy German Shepherd without a collar and a leash, but with a chain wrapped around his neck and held by an equally enormous, filthy man who insisted upon bringing his "service dog" to visit "Dad." Dad's nurse that day happened to be a guy named Tim. The visitor, (who I'll call Earl because I think that was his name, although memory is hazy on that aspect) took exception to the nurse assigned, and to the hospital for assigning a "g-dda--d f----t" to take care of Dad. Before Tim even had a chance to introduce himself, Earl sicced the dog on him. As I heard it, Tim was backed into a corner with the dog snarling and snapping at his crotch.

The charge nurse heard the ruckus and hurried into the room to take charge. She wound up in the ER with multiple dog bites. Tim decided to press charges, although the charge nurse declined to do so. Tim got fired. The patient's wife threw herself on her knees, begging the manager not to press charges against "Poor Earl who ain't right in the head," and our manager felt sorry for her. Rumor is it, the DA declined to charge Earl. Earl was back visiting the next day, although without the dog.

Useless management, useless police and a useless DA. Oh, and the security that allowed a filthy, ill-mannered German Shepherd into the ICU to "visit" -- useless as well. As was the unit secretary who unlocked the door, allowing Earl and his dog to visit without giving the nurse a heads up or anything.

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Specializes in CMSRN, hospice.

RubyVee, that's crazy! And really upsetting. How on earth could they justify firing the primary nurse?!

Regardless of behavioral issues, many patients know the difference between right and wrong, and they're savvy! They know when we're vulnerable and take advantage of it. This nonsense needs to be met with a strong response by nurses, but it doesn't do much good if administrators and law enforcement don't back us up. People don't listen to us because we're in a nurturing role; any boundaries we set are going to get pushed.

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On 3/21/2019 at 9:17 AM, ally1991 said:

I was slapped by a patient

It didn’t strike me with empathy because he didn’t feel well and wasn’t himself.

Why did he do that? "Not being himself" isn't really motivation for assault. Sorry if this was already answered previously in the thread, I didn't see any answers to this

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On 3/24/2019 at 4:44 PM, JBudd said:

Glad you filed the police report.

To KrispyKritter: I am sorry no one listened to you... I was tackled to the ground along with my charge nurse, and bitten hard enough to break the skin on my forearm, with a 6x8 inch (not cm!) bruise and swelling around it, still have the scar. The police responded immediately, interviewed the perp (who was still in restraints), took witness statements from everyone; she was convicted of 2 felony counts of assault on a health care worker. I only had to appear once to the Grand Jury; she took a plea deal (had other charges as well). She blew her parole, don't know if she did much time but the county inmate logs show multiple arrests and charges over the years.

Not all police departments are useless.

Glad your outcome was better, mine made me bitter.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

I have a long history working in LTC. Most of my career if a resident lashed out at another resident you bet it was taken seriously. Mountains of paperwork, phone calls to various state agencies, one on one assigned to the perpetrator until other accommodations or alternate placement in another facility could be made. In one particular case we had a resident on 24 hour one to one for a few months waiting for another facility to accept him after he slapped another resident. The cognitive abilities of the resident didn't matter at all, advance dementia or not the assault was dealt with.

Now resident to staff violence was another matter completely. That "was part of the job." We were told that's what we signed up for when we took the job. We knew the risk was there and accepted it. There was even annual training on how to deflect an assault without causing any harm to the person assaulting us. After all "it's not their fault, they don't know what they are doing." I can't even count the number of times myself and other staff have been hit, kicked, pushed, bitten, spit on, purposefully urinated on by male residents who laughed and said "ha,ha, got you!" Sometimes those assaults resulted in enough physical harm to the staff that work time was lost and we all know workman's comp is not compensating anywhere near full pay and of course the facility sure didn't kick in anything beyond what they were legally required to. Thankfully that started to change and now we just don't accept residents with a violent past and any violence toward staff by a resident is treated the same as a resident to resident altercation. It was a long time coming but it's finally there.

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Specializes in Psych, HIV/AIDS.

A number of years ago, my cousin Tommy worked in the ED in a southern hospital. A prisoner was brought in by police for medical care. The prisoner, of course, ran to try to escape. Tommy was a big burly man and being the person he was, attempted to stop the fleeing prisoner. The thug knocked Tommy to the floor. A few days later, Tommy didn't show for his shift. A wellness check was done and Tomm was found dead in his apartment...subdural hematoma was the cause of his death. All because his desire to act beyond the call of duty.

Employers and police departments MUST act on these horrendous acts and back their employees/plaintiffs.

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