Louisiana Registered Nurse Lynne Truxillo died on April 11, 2019.
At Baton Rouge General Hospital on April 4th, when patient Jessie Guillory attacked one of Lynne’s coworkers, Lynne stepped in and pulled him from the other nurse. As Nurse Lynne Truxillo tried to escape his grasp, Guillory grabbed her by the neck and violently slammed her head down onto a desk before others could restrain him. In the melee, Lynne also suffered a pulled muscle but as a dedicated nurse, she finished her shift.
Six days later, she returned to the hospital for care and was placed in the ICU. Sadly, Nurse Truxillo passed away at the age of 56. An autopsy showed the trauma of the previous week resulted in blood clots in her leg which led to pulmonary emboli. The death of the wife and mother of 2 was ruled a homicide and Guillory was charged with manslaughter.
I have seen situations where nurses have to face an aggressive patient and is forced to defend themselves. Incredulously, this can result in a claim of patient abuse. So where do we draw the line?
Nurses arrive at work prepared to help patients; not to be injured. What is going to be done to stop these tragedies? Numerous nurses are injured, some seriously, and even raped in the past several years.
At your hospital, what kind of preventive measures are there to protect YOU from a patient attack? Is your supervisor supportive of you when you report an aggressive patient? Let me get your valued feedback and opinion below.
Jesilinah Mwanyalo says
Am shocked. This is very ?. Thanks for sharing as this will increases nurses vigilance to report any situations when a patient is violent and aggresive. May Nurse Lynne rest in peace, and may angels rejoice over her for serving as a nurse. Prayers goes out to her family.
Marcella Lowry says
Where were the male staff that could’ve handled the situation? Was a code called to address this? In my facility, we have a code that can be called in these situations. Certain staff are assigned to that code’s team. When that code is announced overhead with the location, the members of the team go to that part of our hospital immediately to deescalate the patient and protect the staff. It has saved countless patients, staff, and nurses.
Jan McIntosh says
In our agency we do home care on people with long term disabilities. When we admit a new patient, part of our rights and responsibilities that we have the patient sign clearly states that we have the right to discharge a patient should the staff ever feel unsafe or threatened by doing care in their home. This could include verbal or physical abuse by the patient or family or even an animal that isn’t restrained and is aggressive. We have had to use that clause before as support in discharging someone.
Marie Alden says
At my last job, all my supervisor cared about was patient satisfaction. If we were treated badly by a patient, usually verbal abuse, and she got a patient complaint, she would ask us what we could have done differently. Then she would write the patient an apology letter.
LORIE A BROWN, R.N., M.N., J.D. says
Thanks for sharing. In the hospital’s response in the press, they did not discuss what measures they were taking to protect our nurses and health care team members in the future.
LORIE A BROWN, R.N., M.N., J.D. says
Thanks for sharing. I am glad your agency has that policy.
LORIE A BROWN, R.N., M.N., J.D. says
Thanks for sharing. I am glad some places have procedures in place to help these situations.
LORIE A BROWN, R.N., M.N., J.D. says
Thank you for your kind response. I believe the funeral home was Lake Metarie Funeral Home in Baton Rouge. I am sure they would pass along a card to the family.
Gena Grayson, RN BSN says
I have always worked in the Emergency Department and I have always dealt with a high volume of psych patients. The worst thing that has ever happened to me is that I was caught off guard and kicked in the chest by a female patient. Security was literally standing right next to me. I have also had an HIV/Hep C positive patient remove a blood soaked gauze and throw it at me. Both times I filed charges, both times nothing happened. The gauze thrower wasn’t even a psych patient, just angry she was being discharged. The hospital I work at now is trying to implement a better system, but most recently a patient went behind the nurse’s station and began swinging a stool. She was restrained by a security officer and a police officer, but not before she smacked the police officer in the face. I had to give a report to the police officer‘s Sargent because the patient was attempting to file charges against the officer. We are not safe enough and we do not have proper recourse when violence does occur.
Joan M. Pate' says
In organizations which fail to ensure staff safety, my recourse, if injured would be to sue the patient AND the organization. Perhaps if more of us took this action, healthcare organizations may establish the same kind of STAFF safety measures as patients are mandated to have.
Injuries to nursing personnel deserve greater attention and focus esp where organizations are lax!
LORIE A BROWN, R.N., M.N., J.D. says
Thanks for your comment. They deserve more than workers comp. That recovery is very limited depending on the state where it happened.
Kim Schuffert says
In the hospital I used to work at, we also had a “security “ team to respond. Last time I visited there, the security was smaller than me at 5 ft 2 in, 135 lbs. pretty scary when that is your back up for an aggressive patient.
Linda Scheetz says
It is very tragic when any healthcare employee gets injured at work. She attempted to assist another nurse and in the process was gravely injured herself. I agree with the comment “where was the rest of the staff?” Why was she allowed to continue work after being assaulted and injured? The incident needed to be written, and she should have been observed for the bashing of her head on the desk? I would have been concerned about TBI, as well as the pulled muscle in her shoulder. Continue her shift? Really?
My prayers go out to the family and her friends!