Man Charged With Attempted Murder in Spitting (on a Hospital Worker)

[Elmore Furth]

Source: Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A 29-year old man with a contagious disease was charged with attempted murder Tuesday after he spit on a hospital worker.

Andre LaFrance, of Wasilla, "intentionally transferred a dangerous bodily fluid" onto the worker Monday at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, State troopers said. LaFrance has hepatitis C, an infectious disease that can cause liver damage.

Corrections Sgt. Walter Erickson described the man as "very, very unstable," and said that he was under suicide watch at the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility in Palmer.

Authorities were very cautious and would use a spit-hood on LaFrance if necessary, Erickson said. To further protect themselves, jailers were instructing LaFrance to step to the back of the cell before dealing with him.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/01/18/us/AP-US-Spitter-Attempted-Murder.html?_r=1&ref=news

[MadBlogger]

1. Safety first!

A, the man is on suicide watch and is obviously not stable, and
B, you know that the man has a contagious disease. Trained as an LVN, the first thing they tell you is to protect yourself. If you are working with a tuberculosis patient, don on a face mask. If you are touching a patient's skin use gloves. So why all of a sudden is a man charged with attempted murder when he commits a predictable offense like spitting on somebody when he is clearly unstable mentally? And was the nurse wearing protective clothing and a face shield? If not then that nurse should be fired for incompetency. This article does not make any sense.

[Tunkamerica]

2. yes, of course. but, blaming the victim is not the way our justice system works

usually. If I leave my doors unlocked and someone robs me, it's still a crime. If I go into a dangerous neighborhood at night and draw attention to myself and get mugged... a crime was still committed.

[MattSh]

4. Hey , this is how America now works.

We don't have nearly enough treatment options for the mentally unstable. We can't put them away for treatment somewhere because there's nowhere to put them. But yet, we don't want them on the street either. Solution? Wait for them to commit a crime. Or trump up some charges on something that's not technically a crime. Then we can get them off the streets.

Will he get treatment in jail? Not unless he can pay for it himself. Only socialists and congressmen get free health care.

[Arctic Dave]

5. The charge has been changed to assault.

The article must be old.

[rainbow4321]

10. The nurse is the victim here...

Having been an RN for 20 years I say:
Unless there is clear documentation from that patient's hospital stay that he was spitting at previous health care providers and all future staff was advised to wear masks and protective eyewear, this nurse had NO reason to even think that he would be spitting at him/her and will NOT be faulted.
The article in the OP says the patient has Hep C not TB. Even if he had TB, the N-95 mask that hospitals require staff to wear when going in the patient's room doesn't have an eye shield.
Standard hospital policies for patients with Hep C don't include a nurse donning eye protection nor does it include wearing a mask. Hep C patients fall under standard practice that ALL patients are under...wear gloves when you are going to be dealing with their body fluids.

[davidinalameda]

3. what's in the water up there in Wasilla?

crazy ass people running around

[Webster Green]

6. I thought Hep C is spread through blood to blood transmission.

He would have to be spitting blood on an open wound on the hospital worker.

I suppose the threat of that could be present, but attempted murder seems a little over the top.

[Javaman]

8. My feeling as well. nt

[TheMadMonk]

11. Blood to blood contact is the most likely to cause an infection.

However, any form of serum or mucosal contact is also capable of spreading the disease, with sexual contact at the top of the list.

[Javaman]

7. "infectious disease"

not contagious.

Unless that nurse had open wounds, I think she should be okay.

[sarcasmo]

9. Over zealous district attorney perhaps?