Thirteen nurses, named, 2017–2026 — twelve dated to the day; one (Paige Campbell) is dated to the year only, because that is all her reporting gives — killed or seriously injured by patients or visitors in US care settings. Read down the line and the pattern assembles itself: the attacker was a known risk in at least six cases, the nurse was alone in case after case, and weapons walked past security again and again. Each entry separates what is documented from what is alleged in a lawsuit — because the record only holds if every entry is honest.
Showing all 13 cases, in date order.
Elise Wilson , 65
14 JUN 2017
Harrington Hospital · Southbridge, Massachusetts
A former patient, unhappy with care received three weeks earlier, sharpened a knife in the parking lot, walked past security, and stabbed emergency-department nurse Wilson 11 times — neck, face, and arm.
Outcome: Severed brachial artery and nerve damage. She bled out repeatedly, endured ~8.5 hours of surgery and two weeks in ICU on a ventilator and feeding tube. Permanent nerve damage and mobility loss — she never returned to ER nursing.
The failure & what followed
Institutional failure
No metal detector or weapons screening. The attacker passed security guards unchallenged.
Accountability
Attacker charged with assault with intent to kill and assault & battery with a deadly weapon (final disposition could not be verified). The hospital installed metal detectors, bag searches, limited visitor access, and ran 24/7 police details for months. Wilson became the namesake of “Elise's Law,” a workplace-violence-prevention bill approved by a Massachusetts joint committee in July 2017.
Survived — permanently disabledNo weapons screening
Lynne Truxillo , 56
4 APR 2019 · DIED 11 APR
Baton Rouge General Mid City · Baton Rouge, Louisiana
A behavioural-health patient attacked another nurse at the nurses' station. Truxillo intervened and was grabbed by the neck, her head struck on a desk; she tore her ACL. She finished her shift, was treated, and was sent home.
Outcome: Six days later she returned in respiratory distress and died of a leg blood clot and bilateral pulmonary emboli. The coroner ruled the death a homicide, directly caused by the attack.
The failure & what followed
Institutional failure
The attack happened at the nurses' station of a behavioural-health unit. No specific documented security failure appears in sources consulted — the pattern failure is that a nurse seriously injured in an assault was sent home, and the injury killed her within the week.
Accountability
The attacker was charged with manslaughter (final disposition could not be verified). Louisiana's workplace-violence-prevention-plan law for regulated facilities was named the “Lynne Truxillo Act.”
KilledLaw named for her
Nancy Tammy Scott
11 JUL 2022
SSM Health DePaul Hospital · Bridgeton, Missouri
While Scott was helping another patient, a patient attacked her from behind with a butcher knife in the triage unit. Paramedic Kayla McMahan was also stabbed; both survived.
Outcome: Her carotid artery and right facial nerve were severely injured. She applied pressure to her own wound and walked herself to care — “I would have been dead in minutes.”
The failure & what followed
Institutional failure
A knife-carrying patient reached the triage unit unchallenged. Scott has spoken publicly about previous incidents and the need for security; no formal finding appears in sources consulted.
Accountability
The attacker pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree assault and was sentenced to 20 years (April 2026). One local report credits the case with prompting a St. Louis County healthcare-violence unit — a single weaker source, treated here as unconfirmed.
SurvivedKnife reached triageAttacker: 20 years
June Onkundi
18 OCT 2022
Freedom House Recovery Center · Durham, North Carolina
A psychiatric nurse practitioner, about three months into the job, was stabbed by her patient in her office.
Outcome: Killed.
The failure & what followed
Institutional failure
Known-risk patient. The attacker had spent much of his life in prison — a 2006 attempted-rape/kidnapping conviction and a 2019 kidnapping/strangulation conviction — and had been released only ~4 months earlier. He was nonetheless seen in an outpatient setting by a lone clinician.
Accountability
Gomes pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on 26 August 2024 and was sentenced to 24–30 years (WRAL). North Carolina nurses' associations publicly demanded an explanation of the safety gaps.
KilledKnown-risk patientAlone with patient
Katie Annette Flowers , 63
22 OCT 2022
Methodist Dallas Medical Center · Dallas, Texas
A visitor on parole for aggravated robbery — wearing an ankle monitor, permitted to attend his girlfriend's delivery — pistol-whipped his girlfriend, then shot Flowers when she looked into the room. Social worker Jacqueline Pokuaa, 45, was shot first when she entered to provide care.
Outcome: Killed. Pokuaa was also killed — she was a social worker, not a nurse, and is named here because she died in the same event, doing the same work of care.
The failure & what followed
Institutional failure
A parolee carried a gun inside a maternity unit. The Methodist police chief said police were not warned he would be there, and that a visitor's criminal history is “not something we normally inquire about.”
Accountability
The shooter was convicted of capital murder in November 2023 — life without parole. The hospital increased police presence.
KilledAttacker on parole, ankle monitorGun inside maternity unit
Douglas Brant , 56
1 DEC 2022
Providence Visiting Nurses Association (home health) · Spokane, Washington
On his first visit to a stroke patient, Brant was shot four times by the patient's grandson, who walked in from the kitchen — and shot him again standing over him.
Outcome: Killed.
The failure & what followed
Institutional failure
No pre-visit risk screening. The shooter had known mental-health issues, a prior assault arrest, and had threatened to shoot people — none of it was flagged to the nurse making a solo first visit.
Accountability
Chandler was found incompetent to stand trial in May 2024 and civilly committed (KHQ). Afterwards Providence offered accompaniment on request and panic alarms, and instituted screening of patients for violence history.
KilledSolo first visitNo risk screening
Joyce Grayson , 63
28 OCT 2023
Visiting nurse (Elara Caring) at a halfway house · Willimantic, Connecticut
A nurse of 36 years went alone to give medication to a patient on probation with electronic monitoring, after 14 years in prison for stabbing and sexually assaulting a woman in 2006. He strangled her; her body was found in the basement.
Outcome: Killed — neck compression and blunt-force injuries.
The failure & what followed
Institutional failure
Allegation — lawsuit The family alleged the state failed to supervise the patient, failed to detain him on probation violations, and allowed him to be alone with visiting nurses despite his violent past — and that Elara Caring repeatedly ignored workers' safety concerns. OSHA found Elara “exposed home healthcare employees to workplace violence from patients who exhibited aggressive behavior and were known to pose a risk to others.”
Accountability
The killer pleaded guilty to murder — 50 years, no parole (August 2025). Connecticut settled the wrongful-death claims for $2.25 million (September 2025, no admission of wrongdoing). OSHA proposed a fine of ~$161,000–$163,627 against Elara Caring (sources differ on the exact figure; the company contested it). Connecticut passed a 2024 home-health safety law funding alert buttons, buddy escorts, and tracking devices.
KilledKnown-risk patientAloneOSHA finding$2.25M settlement
Justin Bautista , 29
13 NOV 2023
Hawai'i State Hospital transitional group home · Kāne'ohe, Hawai'i
Fatally stabbed by a former patient who had been discharged in August 2023 into a community transition programme but was still living on campus, free to leave and return unsupervised.
Outcome: Killed.
The failure & what followed
Institutional failure
Known-risk person in an unsecured setting: the attacker had pleaded guilty in 2022 to assaulting another hospital employee in 2020. Allegation — family lawsuit, Nov 2025 Leaders ignored multiple warning signs, chronic overcapacity and staffing problems, housed him in an unsecured unit, and did not check him for weapons after a failed drug test or on his return the day of the stabbing.
Accountability
Indicted for second-degree murder, held without bail; his competency determination was still continuing as of November 2025 reporting. Aftermath: a 48-hour safety stand-down, transitional-unit staffing tightened from 1:5 to 1:3, pat-downs, metal-detector wands and drug tests on return, and a rapid response team. A state workplace-safety fine of $14,187 was settled with the violation downgraded and the monetary penalty removed.
KilledKnown-risk former patientUnsecured unit
Leelamma Lal , 67
18 FEB 2025
HCA Florida Palms West Hospital · Loxahatchee, Florida
A patient held under Florida's Baker Act, awaiting transfer to a psychiatric facility, jumped on Lal in a patient's room and beat her face with his fists — then fled the hospital into traffic. She had given that hospital 21 years.
Outcome: Essentially every bone in her face broken; traumatic brain injury; double vision, balance and cognitive problems a year later; months in ICU and rehab. She has lost her ability to work.
The failure & what followed
Institutional failure
Allegation — lawsuit filed 18 Feb 2026 The suit says the hospital and Allied Universal ignored previous violent incidents — it cites 3 prior assaults on staff, and another Baker Act incident two weeks later — and placed him in a corner room out of view of the nurses' station with no physical or chemical restraint. The hospital CEO stated an internal review found “all procedures and policies were followed.”
Accountability
The attacker is charged with attempted second-degree murder with a hate-crime enhancement, held without bail (denied again October 2026). Lal sued HCA and Allied Universal in February 2026. After the attack the hospital added a sheriff's workstation in the ER and a deputy posted 40 hours a week.
Survived — cannot workBaker Act holdPrior incidents alleged ignored“All procedures followed”
Tosha Trostle
22 FEB 2025
UPMC Memorial Hospital · York, Pennsylvania
A man whose partner had died in the ICU that week entered the unit with a handgun and zip ties, took staff hostage, and used Trostle as a human shield — the gun pressed to her neck and spine — as police breached. A nurse, a doctor, and a custodian were shot and wounded in the same incident; the wounded nurse was never named in reporting.
Outcome: Survived. The DA's investigation found she suffered a serious head injury in a fall while trying to escape. In her own words, her “physical injuries do not even compare fractionally to what injuries are unseen.” She is included for the severity of the victimisation — held hostage at gunpoint — and this page flags that so the case is never overclaimed.
The failure & what followed
Institutional failure
The perpetrator was a bereaved visitor/partner, not a patient; he targeted the ICU. No documented institutional failure or policy change appears in sources consulted.
Accountability
The gunman was shot and killed by police. Responding West York Officer Andrew Duarte, 30, was also killed — the DA's investigation found he was struck by fellow officers' rounds during the exchange of fire. No charges were possible against the perpetrator.
SurvivedHostage at gunpointVisitor, not patient
Paige Campbell , 33
2025
Emergency department, HCA facility · Fort Walton Beach, Florida (facility not named in the reporting)
An ED patient she had offered a blanket became aggressive and strangled her. “All I could think was, ‘I can't breathe, I'm going to die here.’”
Outcome: Survived. She left bedside ED nursing for a remote patient-monitoring role.
The failure & what followed
Institutional failure
Campbell and colleagues had voted to unionise, citing short staffing, unsafe floating, broken equipment, and workplace violence at the HCA facility. Documentation caveat: this case is thinner than the others — the source (Wall Street Journal, 19 Oct 2026) reports no specific physical-injury findings, charges, or facility response. It is included as a named, sourced strangulation case, with that caveat attached.
Accountability
No charges or institutional outcome reported in the source.
SurvivedStrangledThinner documentation — flagged
Ada Doss , 27
12 MAY 2026
DCH Regional Medical Center · Tuscaloosa, Alabama
A nurse case manager walking to her car after her shift, on the phone with her husband, was approached by a man who demanded her purse and keys and shot her once.
Outcome: Killed at the scene. She was the mother of a 6-month-old and a 2-year-old.
The failure & what followed
Institutional failure — contested facts
Police and DCH say the shooter was dropped off at his own request for help but never entered the hospital and was never registered as a patient, and loitered on campus for hours. His mother's lawsuit Allegation claims he sought emergency psychiatric evaluation and was refused screening and stabilisation. Her husband's wrongful-death suit Allegation claims security was notified of his erratic behaviour, failed to locate him, and let him roam “shirtless, shoeless and armed” unmonitored for hours; DCH disputes the timeline. Because his patient status is officially disputed, this case is cited as a campus/visitor case — not a confirmed patient case.
Accountability
The shooter is charged with capital murder, held without bond. The wrongful-death suit against DCH and Allied Universal is pending; a judge ruled civil discovery could proceed (August 2026). DCH pledged increased security.
KilledCampus case — patient status disputed
Yanira Eguileor
30 MAY 2026
Jackson Memorial Hospital · Miami, Florida
A career trauma nurse intervened as a patient held under the Baker Act attacked a finance staffer. The patient punched her three times in the head and knocked her to the floor.
Outcome: Left semi-unconscious, with head, neck, spine and back injuries requiring CT scans. On leave; reports she cannot return to work.
The failure & what followed
Institutional failure
Allegation — $5M lawsuit Inadequate security; her attorney says she called for help three times and got “no protection.” Jackson Health disputes this: it says four public-safety specialists are assigned to the ER 24/7 plus two off-duty deputies on campus.
Accountability — and its breakdown
The attacker was charged with felony battery on an emergency medical care provider. The case was initially dismissed in July 2026 because the victims' listed contact information was the hospital's own phone number and address — then prosecutors refiled the charges, and the criminal case is pending. He was held pending transfer to a psychiatric facility. Eguileor's $5M negligence suit against the hospital and Miami-Dade County is pending.
Survived — cannot returnBaker Act holdCharges dismissed, then refiled
No case matches that search. Clear the search or pick a different filter.