Teenage boy faces charges after nurse attacked at Moncton's Dumont hospital

Another staff memberwas attackedat the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centrein Moncton this week, the second such assault in less than three months,confirmedVitalit Health Network officials.

A 15-year-old boy is facing multiple charges and has been sent for a psychiatric assessmentin connection with the alleged assault of a34-year-old man at the hospitalon Mondayaround 11 p.m., Codiac RegionalRCMPSgt. Dave MacDonnell said in a statement Tuesday.

The alleged victim is a nurse in the child psychiatry unit, said Vitalitspokesperson Thomas Lizotte.

The boy wasa patient from the unit whotriggereda code white, said Lizotte. A code whiteis when a health-care worker is under attack and all available security is called to that unit.

The accused wasarrested at the scene without incident andappeared in Moncton provincial court on Tuesday, where he was charged with assault, assault with a weapon, mischief and breach of conditions, said MacDonnell.

He was also ordered to undergo a30-day psychiatric evaluation. He is scheduled to return to court on July 10.

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Lizottecould not release any other information about the boy, citing the Patient Privacy Act.

No detailsabout the condition of the alleged victimhavebeen released because the RCMP are still investigating.

But Monday's incident is in no way comparable to the previous assault at the hospital that left a female nursewitha brain contusionand abroken nose, said Lizotte.

"We are not talking about gratuitous violence. We are talking about a white code generated because of violence by a patient from the child psychiatric unit so a patient who is ill, who has care, who is medicated," he said in French.

Nurses gather in solidarity outside Moncton courthouse

5 years ago

Duration 0:58

Norma Melanson, mother of the nurse who was allegedly attacked at the Dr.-Georges-L-Dumont University Hospital Centre in March, said the presence of colleagues marching to denounce workplace violence is a "great support."

The firstattack allegedlyoccurred in anurse's office on March 11. The attack allegedly went on behind closed doors forabout 11 minutesbefore security arrived.

Norma Melanson, the nurse's mother, told CBC Newsher daughter was attacked by the husband of a patient who was upset his wife had been transferred. Melanson said her daughter told her the man grabbed herfrom her chair, pulled outtwo handfuls of her hair, struck her in the face and ribs and was holding her by the throat when they were found.

Randy Van Horlick, 69, was chargedat the Moncton Provincial Courthouse June 4 in connection with that alleged attack. Heis facing one count of assault causing bodily harm, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prisonor 18 months on a summary conviction.

Last week, nurses in both Fredericton and Moncton were rallying for more to be done to prevent violence against them.