I Was Attacked By A Fellow Patient At A Psychiatric Hospital

Location: Southeastern, KY.

On January 21st, I had a mental breakdown and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. While there, my mental state had stabilized and I was projected to be discharged on Monday, January 27th.

Earlier today, January 26th, at about 9AM I was in my room trying to take a nap as the medications I was prescribed messed with my sleep and I was unable to get a good sleep for a few days now. The rooms were in a two bed configuration, two people to a room, and a shared bathroom. None of the room doors locked, and patients (while technically not allowed to), were able to freely enter/exit others rooms without any physical barrier/prevention. Having been there for nearly an entire week, I was fairly comfortable, as none of the patients I had met/interacted with were mean or were seemingly violent. So I, along with the staff, felt fairly laid back and relaxed in the environment.

As I tried to fall asleep, I noticed a new face peer into my window and walk away. I passed it off as someone just walking by and wanting to be nosey as most people are. Then, a few minutes later, as I started to fall asleep, that same individual entered my room and asked: “What are you doing here?”. I told him, “This is my room.”. And before I could ask another question, he jumped on top of me, grabbed my throat, and put his full body weight into his grip. Then, while having one of his hands still on my throat, he started punching me in the jaw, my face, then my head. While this was happening, I started screaming “HELP! HELP!” While help did come quickly and the whole altercation only lasted about a minute at most, he was able to bust my upper/lower lip, gave me a sore jawbone, and as I am writing this, I am starting to feel nauseous which I read is a potential sign of a concussion. Mentally, I am scarred, as I am now scared to even be in my bed and feel paranoid that someone is going to attack me.

As he was being dragged away, he screamed that I had a gun and that was the justification for him attacking me. I also learned that this patient has had a past of violent behavior so this entire altercation was not unheard of for him. Yes. The patient who has been known to be violent to other patients was able to FREELY ROAM without any additional monitoring. No one walking alongside him. Nothing.

After help arrived, the nurse who was responsible for monitoring said she was sorry about the whole ordeal and mentioned that she had stopped monitoring the hallway for a “second”. The attacker was simply whisked away into a locked cell as the nurses gave me damp towels for my lips. After this incident, I demanded that I be presented with my discharge papers and called a cab.