MINNEAPOLIS – Officials at Northfield City Hospital have been cited by the Minnesota Hospital Association for failure to protect a patient’s safety after the mentally disturbed patient was Tasered by police.

According to the Associated Press, at 2 a.m. on Feb. 23, a man arrived in the emergency room. Soon after, he began pacing the halls and rambling loudly. When hospital staff found the man to be violent, they called the police. Police arrived around 7 a.m. In order to subdue the man, police used a Taser. Despite the initial shock of the stun, the patient remained conscious and was not injured.

However, it is the hospital that faces the citation, and not the police. According to news reports, the health department is more concerned with what happened within the five hours of police arriving on the scene.

The health department believes that more could have been done to prevent the problem from intensifying. If the problem is not corrected, the hospital could lose Medicare funding under federal law.

The hospital has hired two security officers since receiving the citation.

For more information:

• Hospital calls cops and feels the sting
• Northfield hospital cited after disturbed patient incident
  

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