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Emergency Department Violence Stories

Table of Contents

Tore the door off

A violent man tore the door off of his room, spat on me and threatened to kill me.

I didn't move out of the way because I wanted to stand between him and the nurse and resident, who were both female. While it took about one minute for security to arrive, it was the longest minute of my life. He was escorted out with no consequences.

- An emergency physician from California 

Behavior only acceptable in hospital

An upset family member was asked to leave the treatment area because they were interfering with pati...

“We are abused on a regular basis”

We had a knife pulled on staff by a patient after he had been discharged.

Attacked staff and shattered glass door

A mental health patient who was not treated in seclusion started to attack staff, broke a computer a...

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