Palms West patient who beat nurse suffered paranoia episode, witnesses detail at hearing

Yahoo

27-02-2025

WEST PALM BEACH — The HCA Florida Palms West Hospital patient who beat and possibly blinded a nurse told investigators immediately after the attack he believed someone had killed his family and spoke with hostility about people of Indian descent, investigators said Thursday.
Stephen Scantlebury called 911 on Feb. 17, the day before his assault on 67-year-old Leelamma Lal, to say he was experiencing a paranoia attack that had begun the day before, Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies testified during a pretrial detention hearing before Circuit Judge Howard Coates.
Scantlebury's family expressed concern to the deputies who came to their Wellington home after he called 911 but did not force him to seek help, officials said. Scantlebury later walked the nearly 4 miles from his home to Palms West complaining of chest pain. The hospital took him in as a patient then.
'This is unimaginable': Palms West nurse's children react to mother's beating by patient
The 33-year-old Scantlebury is facing a charge of attempted second-degree murder of Lal, who remains in intensive care at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach. He is being held without bail at the county jail. The sheriff's office has placed a hate-crime enhancement on the case.
Scantlebury had pleaded not guilty on Tuesday Feb. 25, during his first court appearance in the county jail. At the hearing, Circuit Judge Donald Hafele had declined a motion by Scantlebury's lawyer that he be released on $125,000 bond, placed on house arrest and taken to a treatment facility for what they called an "acute psychosis situation."
The state said it considers Scantlebury, who also has Canadian citizenship and a son living north of the border, to be a flight risk. Coates granted the state's request for pretrial detention during Thursday's hearing. He said the state of Scantlebury's mental health made him concerned about letting him back into the community.
"This is not someone who should be out in the street," Coates said.
'Unprovoked, senseless violence': Palms West CEO decries patient's beating of nurse
A psychological assessment performed at Palms West found Scantlebury should be hospitalized under the Baker Act, which allows the state to hold a person for tests for up to 72 hours. The diagnosis followed Scantlebury jumping out of a CAT scan machine and running down a Palms West hallway, witnesses testified Thursday.
Palms West is not certified to handle Baker Act patients, and Scantlebury was awaiting transfer to one with that certification when the attack happened at about 1:30 p.m. Feb. 18. The hospital kept him in a third-floor room with a sitter to watch him but no security guards.
Witnesses told investigators that Lal, a Royal Palm Beach resident who has been a nurse at Palms West for 21 years, went into Scantlebury's room to care for him. He began to punch her, breaking "essentially every bone in her face." He then fled from the hospital, escaping down a staircase.
Sheriff's officials testified Scantlebury told deputies he was aware of what he had done to Lal once they had captured him as ran along Southern Boulevard near Royal Palm Beach.
' 'Indians are bad. I just beat the s*** out of an Indian doctor,' ' Sgt. Beth Newcomb quoted Scantlebury as saying.
Jason Kimbrell, the CEO of HCA Florida Palms West Hospital, on Tuesday, Feb. 25, called the Feb. 18 attack on a nurse an act of "unprovoked, senseless violence" and said "more must be done" to make healthcare workplaces safer.
He also said that within 24 hours of the beating, for which the patient now faces an attempted murder charge, the staff at Palms West conducted an interdisciplinary review that found that 'all procedures and policies were followed."
"No healthcare worker should ever have to experience such violence," Jason Kimbrell said in an email to the Palms West staff in his first public comments.
The beating has alarmed nurses and health care workers across Palm Beach County, many of whom rallied Sunday outside Palms West and at the now-closed Jerome Golden Center in West Palm Beach. A 2018 federal Bureau of Labor Statistics study found health care workers suffered nearly 75% of all cases of workforce violence.
A GoFundMe page launched by a friend of Lal's family to raise money for her care had raised nearly $171,800 as of Thursday afternoon.
Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, Palm Springs and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at [e-mail] and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palms West patient to remain in custody prior to trial, judge rules