Minnesota hospital cited after disturbed patient incident

June 16, 2008
The Associated Press

A hospital in Northfield has been cited for an incident in which police were called to deal with a mentally disturbed patient. The Minnesota Department of Health says Northfield City Hospital failed to protect the patient's safety during the February incident.

According to an official report, hospital staff called police when they thought the patient was about to turn violent. Officers arrived and used a Taser to shock the man, who was injected with medications and transferred to another hospital's psychiatric unit.

Health department officials say the hospital could have done more to prevent the incident from escalating and that the level of force wasn't warranted in the situation.

But hospital officials and the Minnesota Hospital Association are disputing the citation. They say it's not uncommon for hospitals to call police in such cases.