‘Aggressive’ patient seriously hurts officer, feds say. Texas Children’s Hospital cited
Houston TX May 12 2023 Texas Children’s Hospital is facing $15,625 in penalties after a security officer was hospitalized in an attack, according to federal authorities.
During the Nov. 10, 2022, attack, authorities said the security officer was responding to an alert when they were pulled to the ground by an “aggressive” patient.
The pediatric patient then repeatedly kicked the officer’s chest and abdomen, officials said. The officer lost consciousness and was taken to an emergency room, according to a May 10 news release from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Investigators found that Texas Children’s Hospital, in Houston, “exposed employees who worked with patients with behavioral health issues to physical threats and assault,” according to the release.
“The safety of the employees, faculty and patients remains a key priority at Texas Children’s Hospital and we are very proud of our efforts to provide a safe workplace,” a hospital spokesperson said in a statement to McClatchy News. “We are actively engaged in dialogue with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and disagree with the initial findings released by OSHA.
Texas Children’s has strong safety protocols and training procedures in place and we are constantly optimizing our processes to ensure a safe environment.” OSHA cited the employer, adding that the hospital “had inadequate policies and procedures to protect employees from physical assaults by patients who exhibited violent behavior during medical surveillance and treatment.”
In the release, OSHA Area Director Mark Briggs said “workplace violence is an increasing problem for healthcare workers.” “The incident in this investigation is one of many recent attacks by patients against industry workers,” he continued. “Healthcare employers must protect their employees, particularly those in contact with aggressive or potentially aggressive patients, from the danger of being attacked by a patient. Employers must have certain effective policies and procedures in place so employees don’t have to work in fear of their safety.”
