BRG nurse files charges after patient throws hot coffee & attacked her

A nurse at the Baton Rouge General, or BRG, in Mid-City was attacked Friday morning, hospital officials have confirmed to Unfiltered with Kiran.

BRG officials said the patient was a patient in another unit but was awaiting a psych eval when this happened. However, several people from the hospital tell UWK it was in the ICU around 8:45am on March 17, not in the psych unit. Sources say the ICU was understaffed at the time.

A source familiar with the situation tells UWK the patient had taken the lid off a coffee cup and set it on a table. A nurse approached the patient to take the cup away thinking the patient was going to pour it on the floor. That’s when the patient is said to have thrown the hot coffee on the nurse and grabbed her by her hair “pinning her beneath the patient.”

The source added the patient had such a “tight grip on the nurse’s hair that some of her hair was pulled out at the root.”

That’s when another nurse stepped in to help her co-worker but neither nurse could get free of the patient.

UWK is told BRG’s ICU unit at Mid-City is a locked & secured unit so the nurses could not call for help. Plus, if either nurse did leave to get help, the other nurse could have been seriously injured, according to the source.

A maintenance man eventually saw the attack and called in security. The maintenance man restrained the patient and freed the nurses. By the time security arrived, the three had the patient secured.

Due to HIPAA, UWK is choosing not to release further details about the patient including their sex.

BRG officials say they have a “zero tolerance” policy when it comes to patients hurting any members of their staff and the nurse had the option to press charges.

That nurse chose to move forward with charges for assault. That’s when Baton Rouge Police responded to the hospital to take down the report.

BRG confirms the patient remains a patient at the hospital.

Meanwhile, the BRG nurse attacked did suffer moderate physical injuries including scratches and cuts. She was treated by the BRG health team at the hospital.

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