Beating may leave Palms West nurse blind; patient faces attempted murder charge in attack

Yahoo

20-02-2025

ROYAL PALM BEACH — A nurse at HCA Florida Palms West Hospital may go blind after a mental-health patient beat her so badly on Tuesday that he fractured "essentially every bone" in her face, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said.
Neither the sheriff's office nor HCA identified the nurse, who medics flew to St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach. She remained in critical condition there Wednesday and is expected to survive her injuries.
The patient, Stephen Scantlebury of Wellington, is facing a charge of attempted second-degree murder in the beating, after which he fled the hospital clad only in shorts and ran along Southern Boulevard with deputies and nurses chasing behind him prior to his arrest.
Palms West admitted Scantlebury, 33, for reasons the hospital declined to specify, citing patient privacy laws. The sheriff's office said that he had been assessed under the state's Baker Act, which allows a person showing violent or suicidal behavior to be committed involuntarily for up to 72 hours.
At a hearing Wednesday at the Palm Beach County Jail, Circuit Judge Donald Hafele appointed a public defender to represent Scantlebury and scheduled a hearing on his case for Feb. 25. Hafele set no bail Wednesday because Scantlebury remained in medical care.
A spokesperson for HCA Florida Palms West said the attack on our "happened within a matter of seconds" and was witnessed by multiple people who came to assist.
"Our primary concern is with our beloved colleague and we are praying for her recovery," wrote the hospital in a prepared statement. "We are also providing support to our hospital staff who are understandably shaken by this incident. We are grateful to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office who acted to detain the suspect and we are assisting law enforcement in their investigation."
Scantlebury's arrest report said he did not provide a statement to investigators.
New name? Bill proposes renaming part of Southern Boulevard as President Donald Trump Boulevard
Deputies went to the hospital after receiving a call at about 1:20 p.m. Tuesday that a patient had attacked a nurse, according to Scantlebury's arrest report.
The report said the nurse was taking care of Scantlebury. Witnesses told deputies he had been acting paranoid in the two days before the attack. He has no record of prior felony arrests in Palm Beach County, according to online court records.
Witnesses told deputies the nurse had entered Scantlebury's room on the third floor when he 'inexplicably' jumped on top of his bed and then onto the nurse to attack her, prompting another nurse to look for help.
Jack The Bike Man: Massive West Palm Beach warehouse fire leaves future of charity in doubt
Deputies found the nurse lying on her floor and Scantlebury standing over her, hitting her repeatedly in the face with his fists.
Members of the hospital staff told investigators they saw Scantlebury "flee across the hospital floor, down the stairwell, across the parking lot and into traffic on Southern Boulevard," where deputies captured him, according to the arrest report.
The incident is one of the latest that health care workers have reported at the hands of patients across the U.S.
A 2018 study by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics concluded that workplace violence in the industry "is an important public health issue and a growing concern" and said workers there are far more likely to encounter violence than those in other professions.
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 nurse may go blind after a mental health patient beat her