A Rhode Island man who is accused of attacking a nurse was already facing an assault charge from a different incident at another medical center, CBS affiliate WPRI reported Oct. 2.
George Bower, 37, allegedly assaulted a male nurse who worked in the inpatient unit of Rhode Island Hospital, part of Providence, R.I.-based Lifespan, on Sept. 8. According to a police report, Mr. Bower was upset when he was not allowed to use the hospital telephone. The nurse, Scott Amaral, tried to talk to him about phone privileges when the patient "grabbed Nurse Amaral by the shirt and pushed him into a wall." Surveillance video showed Mr. Bower knocking the nurse to the ground. The nurse was reported to be in critical condition and Lifespan declined WPRI's request for an updated patient status.
Mr. Bower is facing a felony assault on a healthcare worker charge for the incident, but he was already facing a misdemeanor simple assault charge for another incident in November 2022.
At the time of the previous alleged assault, Mr. Bower was a "long-term psychiatric patient" at Providence-based Fatima Hospital. He allegedly approached another patient and "sucker punched [him] for a reason not known to him," according to a hospital report. The police charged him the next day with simple assault and transported him to another hospital.