Patient accused of assaulting, threatening Grace Hospital workers

Manitoba’s health minister is decrying recent violence after three health-care workers were assaulted at Grace Hospital last week.

The health-care workers were allegedly assaulted and threatened by an aggressive patient last week.

A 59-year-old man has been released on an undertaking after being charged with two counts of sexual assault and one count of uttering threats to kill or cause harm.

Winnipeg police say the man was being treated at the hospital in the 300 block of Booth Drive between April 30 and the early morning hours of May 1 when he behaved aggressively and made sexually inappropriate comments to surrounding staff. Hospital security placed the man in restraints due to his escalating behaviour, WPS stated in a news release Sunday.

The man sexually assaulted two health-care workers, one of whom had her garment ripped as the patient tried to bite her, and a third health-care worker was verbally threatened. Police were contacted and West District officers showed up and detained the man in custody.

“We are deeply concerned by the assault on three health care workers at Grace Hospital,” Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Uzoma Asagwara said in a prepared statement Sunday.

“This type of harm is unacceptable and has no place anywhere. I am reaching out to the health care workers. No one should face violence while they are caring for others, and we recognize how upsetting incidents like this are for staff across the system,” the minister stated.

“We continue to work closely with health system leaders, frontline staff, and unions to strengthen safety measures in our hospitals. That includes a $5.2m investment to expand permanent security measures at hospitals. We’ve also written to the federal Minister of Justice to ask that more is done to hold accountable those who harm healthcare workers.”

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca