Patient Shot In Hospital By Stray Bullet

A patient shot in a hospital bed in Pennsylvania by a stray bullet will be okay, police say, following the bizarre and certainly unexpected incident in which the 62-year-old was hit in the abdomen.

The patient shot in the hospital has not been identified, but she was in bed and sitting up when a bullet came on through the first-floor window of the Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland, Pennsylvania.

The victim has not been identified, but police say that being shot in hospital is not a concern patients should have following the fluke occurrence.

Officials scrambled to reassure a worried public after the patient was shot in the hospital, and hospital spokeswoman Katrina Stier told ABC:

“The patient was taken to surgery and is now in fair (stable) condition.”

Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan spoke at a press conference about the stray bullet striking a patient, saying that the woman did not at first understand she’d been shot in her hospital bed:

“She heard a popping sound, then reached down to her side, her abdominal area, where she noticed she was in pain and had blood coming out of that area… There are certain neighborhoods that are in close proximity to this hospital that have a high rate of crime and a high incidence of drug activity.”

However, Whelan says that the hospital shooting was a rare thing and reminds the public that the facility itself is generally safe:

“This is a very safe hospital… We have no reason to believe anyone is in jeopardy in this hospital. The bullet could have traveled up to in excess of one mile… our investigation is throughout the various neighborhoods in Upland Borough. We also have cooperation in the investigation with the Chester City Police Department. They’re assisting us.”

Whelan added the patient shot in hospital was, as a happenstance, “very unusual.”