Hospital patient arrested for allegedly switching off neighbor's 'noisy' oxygen machine

[sl8]

Hospital patient arrested for allegedly switching off neighbor’s ‘noisy’ oxygen machine

By Chris Stern and Issy Ronald, CNN
Published 10:25 AM EST, Fri December 2, 2022

CNN
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A hospital patient has been arrested after she allegedly twice switched off the oxygen equipment on which a fellow patient depended because it was too noisy, German authorities have said.

The public prosecutor’s office in the southwest German city of Mannheim obtained a warrant for the 72-year-old woman’s arrest and she was brought before the magistrate and investigating judge of Mannheim Local Court on Wednesday.

She was later admitted to a “correctional facility,” the police headquarters and public prosecutor’s office in Mannheim said in a statement.

The woman allegedly turned off the main switch of the oxygen equipment some time before 8:00 pm on Tuesday, “after feeling disturbed by the noise emanating from (it),” the statement said.


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[ProfessorGAC]

1. Yikes!

Turning off somebody's oxygen in a hospital? Pretty antisocial.

[hlthe2b]

2. Horrible. I do believe she will be convicted

but there will be an ameliorating case to be made re: the impact of serious illness and long hospitalizations with the most serious results of sleep deprivation (a known issue in hospitals) worsened by the constant disruptive sound of the ventilator. So, if she gets a sympathetic jury, my guess is she will escape the long prison sentence most of us would favor.

That said, the conditions under which we try to treat patients 24/7--especially in the ICUs really need to be given a wide review to see if there are mitigations. I'm just grateful that what she did appears to be a rare phenomenon and that the hospital was not so short-staffed that they were unable to react quickly to the monitor alarms--also a real problem today in hospitals.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. But more staff would reduce profits! Fewer insurance executive mansions!

[lostnfound]

4. It's really tough to judge her, for the reasons you stated

Sleep deprivation, painkillers…I’d want to know her entire drug intake in the hospital before judging.