TEWKSBURY, MASS. (WHDH) - A patient at Tewksbury State Hospital was arrested after he assaulted a nurse at the hospital Friday morning, Tewksbury Police Chief Ryan Columbus said.
Tewksbury police were called to the hospital by campus police at approximately 9:49 a.m. for assistance after it was reported that a a staff member was assaulted by a patient. When officers arrived, they found an adult male patient secured to a chair after he had been administered medication.
A preliminary investigation suggests that the patient went up to the nurses’ station and was acting erratically. When one of the workers approached him, the patient struck the employee in the face twice, according to police.
Police said they later learned that the patient has an “extensive violent criminal history.” He is charged with Assault and Battery on a Health Care Worker.
This marks the second attack at the hospital in two days.
On Thursday, police responded to the hospital for a patient who shattered a window before barricading herself in the bathroom.
Ryan Wilkins, a nurse at the hospital and a member of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, said these incidents are concerning.
“It’s incredibly concerning, it’s scary, it’s saddening,” Wilkins said. “We’re at risk of losing a lot of very talented healthcare workers in this building that are dedicated professionals caring for these patients.”
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