A 62-year-old Long Island man was arrested after punching a nurse in the face while she was caring for him Tuesday night at the hospital where she works.
Roderick Essix, of Roosevelt, was charged with second-degree assault after he struck the 66-year-old victim at the Nassau University Medical Center while she was “performing her duties,” according to Nassau County police.
“Defendant Essix became combative and punched the female victim with a closed fist to the left side of her face,” police said in a news release on Wednesday.
Cops arrested the suspect without incident following the alleged felony assault. He was released on a summons to appear in court at a later date.
It’s unclear what provoked Essix or why he had been in the hospital. Nassau County officials have not returned a request for comment.
The unidentified victim was treated by her hospital staff colleagues in East Meadow for what police described as “substantial pain and minor bruising.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health care professionals make up 10% of the U.S. workforce, but experience 48% of the nonfatal injuries across all industries combined “due to workplace violence.”
The CDC warns that violence against health care workers can have wide-reaching impact, including those affected experiencing “posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety [and] burnout” that can “trickle down to patient safety and satisfaction.”
