USA: Massachusetts Patient to Spend 90 Days in Jail for Spitting on a Nurse
Spitting on a skilled nursing employee will land one resident in jail for three months, a Massachusetts jury decided last week.
The sentence stems from an October 2016 incident, when 29-year-old Travis Chiddick twice groped a female housekeeper’s buttocks while she cleaned his room. When told that he’d be losing privileges at the Timberlyn Rehabilitation Care Center in Great Barrington, MA, he subsequently spit in the face of a staff nurse, the Berkshire Eagle reports.
On Friday, a six-member jury convicted Chiddick of assault for the incident, and he was sentenced to serve 90 days in the Berkshire County Jail. The jury, however, acquitted him other charges, including assault with a dangerous weapon. Chiddick, who uses a wheelchair, also was accused of throwing a glove at a nursing home staffer.
The county had sought a six-month sentence, while the resident’s attorney asked the judge to consider probation, arguing that Chiddick’s impulsive tendencies were part of his medical condition. Chiddick had previously incited “numerous past encounters at the nursing home in which he has become violent and either assaulted staff or other patients,” police stated in the initial incident report.
Source: https://www.mcknights.com/news/snf-resident-gets-90-days-in-jail-for-spitting-on-a-nurse/
