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Patient Stabs Nurse At Southbridge, Massachusetts Hospital, Flees

By Rahul Srinivas
Published on: 08:40 PST, Jun 14, 2017

An on-duty nurse at a Southbridge, Massachusetts medical facility has been hospitalized with “significant” injuries after a person who was undergoing treatment under her care stabbed her multiple times. According to WHDH Boston 7 News, the patient and the nurse were in an emergency room when the stabbing was reported on Wednesday morning at around 10:15 a.m., local time. Initial reports say that that the incident happened at the Harrington Hospital in Southbridge and that both the individuals involved in the incident were inside the same room. While the circumstances that led to this attack remain a mystery at this point, an initial investigation has confirmed that the patent’s action was sudden and that there was no provocation on the part of the staff member who remains hospitalized and under treatment at the time of this writing.

Hours after the incident, officials from the local police department confirmed that the nurse was stabbed four times by the patient and that the wounds were “significant.” Following the stabbing, the nurse was airlifted to another medical facility – the UMass Medical Center where she remains under treatment at this time. While the extent of her injuries has not been revealed, initial reports have indicated that her condition remains critical.

Meanwhile, the patient accused of stabbing the nurse initially managed to flee the scene. However, he was nabbed a short time later from his apartment and is currently in police custody. Since the investigation is still in the preliminary stages, no charges have been filed. In fact, authorities have not yet revealed the names of the victim or the perpetrator. Officials from Harrington Hospital where the incident occurred have issued a statement on the official Facebook page of the hospital.

It reads as follows.

“At approximately 10:15 am this morning, an incident occurred in the Southbridge emergency department in which a Harrington employee was seriously injured by a patient wielding a knife who then fled the emergency room. The nurse was immediately treated in our ER, stabilized and airlifted to UMass by Life Flight. Southbridge police are on scene. We understand that the suspect was apprehended off campus and is now in custody and is no longer a threat to patients or staff.”

Hospital authorities went on to confirm that the incident did not have any major impact on the normal functioning of the hospital and that all locations and services are operating normally.

Incidentally, this stabbing incident happened on the same day the U.S. was rocked by twin shooting incidents that left several people dead and wounded. In the first incident, a shooting at a congressional baseball team practice at a baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia, left Congressman Steve Scalise and several others grievously injured. The gunman was shot and killed by security officers. In the second incident, four people were reported killed in a shooting incident at a UPS package delivery facility in California.

[Featured Image by ratsadapong rittinone/Shutterstock]

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