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Waikato Hospital emergency doctor attacked
** High Priority **
For immediate release:
One of
Waikato Hospital's senior emergency department
doctors,
punched and kicked by a drunken patient on
Saturday night, is today
considering pressing
charges.
The attack came after the man, who earlier in the
night put his arm
through a plate glass window, started
wandering around the emergency
department dripping blood
and wandering in and out of cubicles.
The doctor said the
man went into a cubicle where a 97-year-old woman
was
getting treatment.
"I stopped him and asked him to go back
to his bed and he refused. I
asked again and he started
swearing at me, then he hit me four times in
the face and
kicked me."
Security guards and police subdued the man but
could not take him away
as his arm needed urgent medical
attention.
The doctor said that of the 20 patients
in the emergency department at
the time - one a
9-year-old boy subsequently airlifted to
Auckland's
Starship Hospital, six were there because of
the effects of alcohol.
"This guy caused trouble right
from the start and we had him near the
co-ordinator's
desk to keep an eye on him.
"Because they make a lot of
noise and cause trouble they tend to get
seen. It's a
waste of our resources particularly when there are
more
deserving cases."
Health Waikato chief operating
officer Jan Adams said the attack
was
"cowardly".
"These are our front line clinical
staff being attacked. It's
simply unacceptable and the
public and our staff need to know we're
going to act on
it.
"We don't believe our staff should have to put up with this."
It's the second time in a month hospital staff have
come under
pressure from unwelcome quarters.
Three
teenage gang members had hospital trespass notices slapped
on
them for intimidating staff and patients while
visiting a friend.
One of the gang members returned today and security took them away.
"We're here to provide
essential hospital services to the public
and our efforts
are diverted by these sorts of things," said
Mrs
Adams.
"It's seriously ill people suffering because
of these drunken fools
and members of the public with no
respect for the fact this is a
hospital. It's time we
started standing up to these people and we'll
be talking
with police about how together we can sort this out."
A
review of visiting hours, security screening in the
emergency
department and a boosted police presence on
campus were all options for
discussion, she
said.
ENDS
Waikato District Health Board
Healthy People. Excellent Care
Waikato District Health Board (DHB) employs over 6500 people and plans, funds and provides hospital and health services to more than 391,770 people in a region covering eight per cent of New Zealand.
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