Baby taken, doc slashed in separate incidents
Baby taken, doc slashed in separate incidents
Two recent crimes underscore the need to assess the risk of violence in health care facilities and to take appropriate precautions when dealing with relatives who may be unstable.
In the first case, a 14-month-old girl with a fractured skull was taken from Atlanta’s Egleston Children’s Hospital on Dec. 4, 1996, and there still are no clues as to her whereabouts. The incident illustrates the need for extra security when an injured child’s parents are under suspicion.
The toddler was hospitalized Nov. 27 for a head injury, and the parents said they did not know how she was hurt. The Fulton County Department of Family and Children Services took temporary custody of the child, Alba Lucia Carrasco, and began investigating the parents for child abuse. The mother, Alba Aurora Carrasco, was to appear in court for a child services hearing the day after the child disappeared, but did not. The child welfare agency had authorized hospital visits by some family members, including a grandmother.
The child was cleared for discharge to child protective services at the time of the abduction but Egleston authorities expressed concerns about whether she would receive proper follow-up care. Spokeswoman Sherekaa Osorio of the Fulton County agency said officials were not confident that the baby would be found. The parents’ apartment was found abandoned the day after the abduction.
Surgeon attacked by angry parent
The second incident involved New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in New York City, where a paroled convict is alleged to have slashed a doctor and four other people with a razor on Dec. 19, 1996. Initial reports from the police indicate that James Aaron Rowe attacked the doctor, a nurse, two staff members, and a visitor before being subdued by police. None of the wounds was life-threatening, but James B. Bussel, MD, sustained severe cuts to the face.
Rowe had been imprisoned for slashing a nurse at the same hospital in 1985. While Rowe was incarcerated, his 12-year-old daughter died at the hospital of leukemia, and police report that his most recent attack was prompted by his anger at Bussel, who had cared for the girl. As he slashed the doctor’s face, he yelled, "Do you remember my daughter?"
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