Ledger-Dispatch

By Scott Thomas Anderson (sanderson@ledger-dispatch.c= om)=20 - Raheem Hosseini=20

=

A nurse at Sutter Amador Hospital was = violently=20 attacked in the early hours of Nov. 29. The suspect, Michael = Holloman, was=20 arrested by the Jackson Police Department, after he allegedly = accosted=20 three nurses on duty.

Photo by: Bethany A.=20 Monk
A violent attack at Sutter Amador = Hospital=20 last month left at least one nurse injured and some hospital staffers=20 questioning the need for added security at the Jackson = facility.

It was=20 the dead of night during a weekend shift on Nov. 29 when Michael = Holloman walked=20 into Sutter Amador Hospital.

Escorted by two family members, the=20 38-year-old proceeded up to the medical/surgical floor to visit his = ailing=20 mother. What the hospital staff could not have known was that a = restraining=20 order had been filed, barring Holloman from having any contact with her. = The=20 staff would soon know why.

According to eye witnesses, as soon as = Holloman entered his mother's room, he began yelling and throwing food = around.=20 He then attempted to light a cigarette with a butane lighter, despite = the fact=20 the hospital is a no-smoking zone and that his mother was having her = lungs=20 filled with oxygen - creating a flammable threat.

A nurse who was = working=20 in the area entered the room and tried to intervene. Believing she was = trying to=20 throw him out of the hospital, Holloman violently attacked the nurse. = After=20 mangling her hand by slamming it repeatedly under a heavy bathroom door, = he=20 picked her up and threw her into a table. According to hospital workers, = the=20 nurse fractured several of her ribs.

Holloman also accosted two = other=20 nurses before a Code Gray security threat was sent out through the = hospital.=20 Eight staffers soon rushed over to help while others called 911. Fearing = arrest,=20 Holloman began running away from the scene but was quickly apprehended = by=20 responding Jackson police officers. Capt. Christy Stidger confirmed that = Holloman had been arrested and charged with felony counts of battery on = a=20 person, battery causing great bodily harm, threatening and terrorizing, = and=20 obstructing a peace officer in the course of duty.

Hospital staff = told=20 the Ledger Dispatch that the nurse who was assaulted and injured had = worked at=20 the hospital about six years.

According to hospital staff, Sutter = Amador=20 Hospital requested a report from the Jackson Police Department in the = past year=20 documenting how many times police had been called to the hospital and = for what.=20 The sources said the police department advised Sutter Amador = administration at=20 that time to consider adding security.

Without commenting on the = possible=20 need for security guards, Nancy Turner, communications director for = Sutter=20 Health Sacramento Sierra Region, and Sutter Amador CEO Anne Platt = released a=20 statement saying, "The safety of our staff is a top priority. Sutter = Amador=20 Hospital welcomes all visitors, but if they become a safety issue to our = patients, visitors or our staff, they will be asked to leave. It is our=20 obligation to seek law enforcement's help if necessary."

Scott Thomas = Anderson