Two men who caused severe chaos at the Accident and Emergency department of Mayo General Hospital in aggressive incidents which occurred less than a week apart— in which the men were extremely abusive, were forcefully removed by security, and caused criminal damage to the outside glass door of the department, were both jailed by Judge Mary Devins at Castlebar District Court on Wednesday for this “thuggish behaviour”.
At last month’s sitting of the court, evidence was heard that on Monday April 27 2009 between 10.30pm and 10.45pm, Patrick Lawrence (31 ), 21 Healy Terrace, Ard Na Rí, Ballina, entered the A&E when he was intoxicated and became abusive to staff after which he was forcefully removed from the hospital, he then broke glass panels with his fist and a refuse bin—which resulted in A&E being evacuated. Judge Mary Devins adjourned the married father of five case to Wednesday in order to afford the opportunity for a member of the A&E staff to come into court and speak about the effect the incident had on patients and staff.
Ms Chris Regan, clinical nurse manager of the hospital attended this week’s court where she outlined what Judge Devins described as an “extraordinary articulate and stark but not overstated picture” of what occurs when such incidents occur.
Ms Regan thanked the judge for the opportunity given for those at MGH to express their concern at the “huge impact” that a member of public causes when he verbally or physically abuses staff and patients or damages hospital property. The nurse manager said that “vulnerable patients are in a place of safety” and are told that they would leave in a better condition, however “this is not the case” when such incidents happen.
Ms Regan said that research has attributed the increase in violence in A&E to alcohol and drugs
Research also shows that staff are also severely impacted as an incident like this, when staffing levels are reduced, will leave them “demotivated” which in turn means that their concentration is not as good, therefore care is compromised.
As for the detrimental effect these incidents have on patients; patients, particularly children and toddlers are frightened, and medical conditions are “automatically exacerbated”. Ms Regan said for example those who present with chest pains will suffer increased pains, and a child who is there for asthma may have a severe asthma attack. Patients also have to be removed from the A&E if property is damaged, as glass and blood may remain and it takes a minimum of 12 hours for the damaged property to be replaced.
Judge Devins thanked Ms Regan for attending to outline the “trauma and actual devastation caused by people like Patrick Lawrence”, and said that she had to “mark the horror all these people feel about the crime” before she sentenced Lawrence (who has no previous to convictions ) to jail for three months; convicted and fined him €500; accepted the €100 in court for witness expenses for a security guard who attended previously; and ordered that the €500 cash bail bond go towards compensation for the damaged property.
Security guard punched in face
Six days after this incident, on May 3 at 4.30am, 26-year-old Paul O’Brien, 45 Clareville, Claremorris was physically removed from the A&E department of the hospital by security personnel after he was aggressive towards staff. One of the security guards, Mr Peter Conway, was assaulted by O’Brien, who punched Mr Conway in the face, leaving a cut on his chin. Once outside, O’Brien punched and kicked the glass door of A&E which cracked a pane of glass.
Defending solicitor Lynda Lenehan explained that O’Brien had been drinking all day at a friend’s party and was also on medication, which attributed to his aggressive demeanour that night. Ms Lenehan said that after the defendant’s back locked up, an ambulance was called and he was brought to the hospital for medical attention, where soon after he became aggressive.
According to the solicitor, O’Brien was in court when Ms Regan spoke and was apologetic for his actions which were “out of character”, with Mr O’Brien telling the solicitor soon after the incident that the hospital staff’s “jobs are stressful enough without my carrying on”.
The unemployed man, who has a four-year-old child in Kerry and is in a relationship with a woman from Mayo, had €250 in court towards compensation for the €490 damage caused.
Judge Devins said that the “gulf between people like Ms Egan who does good and you who does bad is immense”, and convicted the defendant (who has previous convictions ) €500 for the section two criminal damage; ordered that €250 compensation be paid; and sentenced him to three months in prison. For the section two assault on Peter Conway, O’Brien was convicted and fined €500 and sentenced to six months consecutive.
Recognisances for both men was fixed.
