A patient who was shot last August by an off-duty police officer at St. Joseph Medical Center in Houston is suing the hospital and its parent company Franklin, Tenn.- based IASIS Healthcare as well as the City of Houston and four of its police officers.
Alan Pean had a history of manic depressive and anxiety disorders and checked himself into St. Joseph Hospital Aug. 26 amid a severe panic attack. According to a 51-page CMS report, Mr. Pean grew confused during his hospital stay and repeatedly left his room naked. Unable to get Mr. Pean to stay in his room, nurses called hospital security — two off-duty Houston Police Department officers.
According to investigators, Mr. Pean attacked the officers with a piece of furniture when they came to his room. In response, the officers initially used a Taser on the patient, but when that had no effect, one of the officers shot Mr. Pean.
"Those officers responded to the room with overwhelming force, and instigated an attack on Alan…who was trapped in a mental health crisis at the time," Mr. Pean's lawyer Joseph Melugin told KPRC news.
The lawsuit claims the officers weren't properly trained to de-escalate a mental health crisis.
The lawsuit seeks more than $1 million for Mr. Pean's pain and suffering as well as legal and medical expenses, according to the report.
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