TEWKSBURY, Mass. — A patient at Tewksbury State Hospital faced a judge this morning, accused of attacking another patient as violent encounters at the hospital have increased.
At the beginning of the month, officials announced that workers at the hospital could no longer use items such as pepper spray, batons, or other defensive tools, citing that such measures were inappropriate in a clinical setting.
Since then, violent encounters have been mounting.
Prosecutors alleged that police were called to the Nichols Building on the hospital campus for a report of an assault. The Nichols Building houses a second step detox run by Beth Israel Lahey Health.
Officers learned that the victim had reported being approached by a 45-year-old patient with something in his hand and had accused of stealing, and that he had used that object to try and stab him.
The victim believed the object to be a screwdriver, and the victim said he attempted to step back to avoid being stabbed numerous times.
The victim said the defendant eventually gave up and left the room. Hospital staff confirmed through surveillance that the encounter did happen, and they located a pair of scissors in his room.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The incident comes after police said a staffer was punched twice in the face last Friday. On Thursday, police say, a patient smashed a hospital window before barricading herself into a bathroom. Those two incidents just days after a man, who was visiting his brother at the hospital, was charged with pushing a chair into a pregnant nurse while the brother was having a health emergency.
Police and union officials say the incidents are happening after hospital policies changed.
“There is an epidemic of violence at this facility,” Tewksbury hospital nurse Ryan Wilkins, a union official, told Boston 25.
“We largely feel that we’ve been left out to dry here. It’s disheartening, it’s disappointing, and it’s scary altogether,” he said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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