A video has raised concerns regarding a patient’s treatment at Baptist Health North, prompting an investigation after footage surfaced showing an elderly woman being dragged.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Footage sent to First Coast News by a viewer is bringing attention to how a patient was handled and the behavior of hospital staff.
Randy Oribhabor, who was at the Baptist Health North emergency room, captured a video of what he described as an older woman being pulled along the ER hallway.
“When I was escorted back, I saw there was an older woman in a room complaining about needing to use the bathroom,” Oribhabor explained, “At first, I didn’t think much of it.”
Moments later, Oribhabor said the woman tried to get up and go use the restroom, then things escalated.
“They grabbed her and tried to take her back to her room instead of letting her use the bathroom,” he said
First Coast News blurred the individuals’ faces in this cellphone recording to safeguard their privacy. The footage appears to show hospital security transporting the woman by her wrists and legs.
Security can be heard saying, “Put your phone down sir. You can’t be recording in here.”
“That kind of behavior for an emergency room is totally unacceptable,” said Oribhabor.
In the cellphone video, he can be heard saying, “look what y’all doing to this old lady.”
Oribhabor said the woman did not appear aggressive but in need of help.
“She wasn’t shouting or causing any disturbance,” he observed, “They shouldn’t stop her from using the bathroom and then escalate the situation to dragging her in front of others in the ER. It’s likely she felt humiliated, and I feel sorry for her.”
First Coast News reached out to Baptist Health about the video on Wednesday. The hospital released this statement to us Thursday saying:
“This is not reflective of who we are. Baptist Health is dedicated to providing high-quality care and maintaining the highest safety standards. We are deeply disappointed to see that a patient was transported this way and do not tolerate behavior that conflicts with our core values and policies. We are investigating this situation, but due to patient privacy laws, we cannot comment on the patient.”
“I think Baptist needs to hold their staff to a higher standard and I think that with that higher standard there needs to be more training,” said Oribhabor.
According to Baptist Health, this incident is under investigation.
Editor’s Note: First Coast News has a community partnership with Baptist Health in support of the Buddy Bus, a mobile mammography unit that provides breast cancer screenings across the First Coast.
