Fort Worth Police Used Taser on Hospital Patient

As a Fort Worth Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury Attorney, I am providing, what is in my opinion one of the most outrageous civil rights, medical malpractice and personal injury claims involving Taser usage.

A confused post-surgical patient at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Hurst-Euless-Bedford was tasered. Bedford police said that on December 14, an off-duty police officer working at the hospital responded to a report of a "violent situation."

According to the police, when the officer arrived, "there had been two hospital employees that had been assaulted" by the patient, and the officer "used his Taser to restrain the subject."

This is so outrageous and unprecedented, another example of the out of control Fort Worth police department. There should be a full independent investigation. Criminal and civil right violations, medical malpractice and personal injury claims should be filed against the police officer and the hospital.

The hospital is responsible for the actions of its employees for excessive use of force and civil right violations.

This year, Fort Worth paid a $2 million settlement to the family of a man who died after police Tasered him. Obviously the City of Fort Worth did not learn its lesson and put in place corrective actions. We have trigger happy police running amok in our city. Get ready to shell out more money.

What ever happened to human rights and patient bill of rights? In all my 27 years as a medical doctor, I have not seen a more egregious example of hospital brutality, abuse and patient rights violation involving hospital security.

It is fairly routine and expected that patients can suffer from delirium, agitation and confusion following anesthesia, but it is easily managed. If a patient becomes agitated, sedatives can be administered through IV access and the patient is restrained and observed to ensure that they do not harm themselves or others.

Many doctors and nurses have done this, this is routine hospital practice, used on a daily basis.

More than 150 people nationally have died because of Taser devices since 2001, according to Amnesty International.

In Florida, a man under police supervision refused to give a urine sample for a drug test. The man was both handcuffed and restrained by leather straps, and an officer kneeled on his chest while the patient thrashed to prevent the insertion of a catheter. The officer then used his Taser in drive stun mode twice before the man gave in.

Federal and state health officials later cited the hospital for violating the patient’s rights.

The manufacturer warns that the Taser can cause changes in blood pressure, electrolytes, heart rate and rhythm, and respiration.