An Ohio hospital nurse intervened to protect a baby, and then management’s response made everything worse

A nurse working in the maternity ward at Ohio State University Hospital was attacked by a patient’s family member while trying to keep a baby safe. The trouble started around 6:50 p.m. when a man and a female patient got into a fight, and the man was holding an infant during the argument.

According to The Hill, the nurse saw what was happening and tried to help calm things down. But the man grabbed her by the shirt collar and pulled her out into the hallway. The baby was not hurt, and hospital security along with campus police showed up to handle the situation. The man was then taken to the emergency room because of how he was acting.

What really upset the state’s biggest nursing union was what happened next. Rick Lucas, who leads the Ohio Nurses Association and used to run the nursing union at OSU, said nobody from the hospital checked on the nurse after she was attacked. “When she called me, she broke down again, not just because of the attack itself, but because no one asked her if she was okay,” Lucas said. “Not one person. That is an institutional failure of compassion.”

The hospital admits it dropped the ball

Marti Leitch, the main spokesperson for Wexner Medical Center, said the hospital messed up its own rules for what should happen after something like this. The nurse never got checked out in the emergency room, and hospital leaders did not make sure she was doing okay right after it happened.

Leitch said the help that should have been offered right away did not come until the next morning. The hospital gave support to the nurse and others who were there when it all went down, but it came a day late.

She said the hospital is now fixing how it handles these situations so this does not happen again. This whole thing shows the often underappreciated work of postpartum nurses.

Lucas said campus police were not even called until after the hospital figured out who the man was. When officers finally arrived, they said they had gotten a call about this same person just one day earlier. Police ended up charging the man with breaking a protection order, unlawful restraint and assault. Leitch said workers in situations like this are told they can press charges if they want to.

The nursing union is now pushing the hospital to take specific actions. Lucas said they want all the security camera videos saved and handed over. They also want a meeting with hospital leadership to talk about what went wrong, and they want the man banned from coming back unless he needs medical treatment himself. The union is also asking for the nurse to get paid time off.

Lucas said the union is not backing down until the hospital takes responsibility and does better. Problems like this show the dangerous situations healthcare workers can encounter while just trying to do their jobs. Lucas called what happened “a troubling example of a persisting national problem.”

Leitch agreed that workers should never have to worry about getting hurt on the job. She said the medical center is serious about “providing a safe and secure environment for everyone who comes to our facilities to work, learn or receive care.”