Haifa hospital patient beats nurse unconscious

Police arrested a woman hospitalized at Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center on Tuesday for allegedly threatening and assaulting a nurse at the hospital.

The nurse was beaten unconscious, sustaining injuries to her upper body that required medical care, police said.

Police also arrested a friend of the woman. According to police, both women are suspected of having attacked the nurse over their “discontent” with the quality of the care the woman was receiving.

The two were brought before a court on Wednesday and remanded in custody until Thursday.

Dozens of nurses, doctors and staff demonstrated outside Rambam hospital on Wednesday morning in protest of the assault, and carried signs condemning violence.

אחיות ואחי ביה״ח רמב״ם בעצרת מחאה בעקבות תקיפת האחות מרינה פרנקל אתמול והכאתה באגרופים. בינתיים, ביהמ״ש בעיר דן בהארכת מעצרה של התוקפת. pic.twitter.com/zcwWAKwEMS

— Nitzan Glusman (@nitzanglusman) September 13, 2017

The latest incident of violence against a nurse comes after a Holocaust survivor burned to death a nurse earlier in March. According to the court indictment, Asher Faraj became angry after the flu shot he received from the nurse made him feel weak and unwell.

Faraj told police he didn’t intend to harm anyone, but merely to cause damage to property at the clinic.

Following the incident, health care workers across Israel halted work for two hours to protest the killing of the nurse and to highlight concern over violence directed against health professionals.

The work stoppage came as health care officials sounded the alarm on violence against doctors and others by irritated patients and family members, which they say is a chronic issue in Israel.

Attacks on staff in hospitals and health clinics have increased dramatically in the past few years, with family members attacking or cursing staff and causing disruptions in wards.