Lawmaker Calls For Investigation After Nurse Attacked In Tewksbury Hospital (CBS BOSTON)

Last August, inside Tewksbury Hospital, a violent patient nearly strangled a nurse to death. Haruna Maliani was working that day and tells the I-Team, “he tried killing her, no if, ands, or buts about it.”

The nurse who was assaulted lives in Representative Colleen Garry’s district. Garry says more needs to be done to keep health care providers safe. “We need a real investigation and as far as I’m concerned, heads need to roll,” Garry said. “It was so low staffed, that the one staffer that saw it happen, went over to try and pull him off but he was so big, she couldn’t do it. She had to leave her colleague being strangled to go get help.”

The I-Team has learned that wasn’t the only attack. Nurses say physical and sexual assaults by patients are not uncommon and employees are discouraged from reporting them. “I’ve been punched, I’ve been assaulted multiple times, I’ve been bitten multiple times,” Maliani said.

Tewksbury Hospital is run by the state Department of Public Health. The facility takes in patients with behavioral and medical issues that no other hospital will accept.

Read the full story (Boston CBS) HERE