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Entering the healthcare profession is often described as a calling. Many are driven by a deep-seated desire to help others, a sentiment for which society is profoundly grateful. However, working in emergency rooms presents unique challenges. Professionals in these settings face a daunting array of crises, and the dangers they encounter are escalating, yet this alarming trend receives insufficient attention.
In a recent case highlighting these perils, Jimissa Rivers was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree assault charges. This verdict follows a violent incident in July 2022 at SSM Health DePaul Hospital in St. Louis County, where Rivers attacked triage nurse Tammy Scott and EMT Kayla McMahan. Scott was assisting a patient with chest pains when Rivers attacked her with a butcher knife, inflicting severe stab wounds to her head, arm, and neck—severing an artery in the process. Scott later reflected, “I would not have survived if I weren’t at a hospital. I had an artery severed. I would have been dead within a matter of minutes.” McMahan, too, endured grave injuries, suffering stab wounds to her head and lung. Both women now cope with PTSD and lasting physical scars, leading them to abandon their healthcare careers.
Following the attack, immediate security measures were implemented. Scott noted, “After our attack, the very next day, suddenly they had metal detectors, and they placed security, 24/7 outside of triage.” Additionally, in response to such incidents, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Melissa Price Smith established a specialized unit in January to address workplace assaults on healthcare workers. Smith remarked, “I am very aware that at least 50% of healthcare workers report having been assaulted on the job.”
This case underscores the urgent need for heightened safety protocols and awareness around the risks faced by healthcare workers, whose dedication to patient care remains steadfast despite these growing challenges.
On Monday, Jimissa Rivers pleaded guilty to first-degree assault charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the stabbing of triage nurse Tammy Scott and EMT Kayla McMahan at SSM Health DePaul Hospital in St. Louis County in July 2022. Scott recalled how she was helping a patient with chest pains when Rivers stabbed her in the head with a butcher knife. When Scott put her arm up in defense, Rivers stabbed her in the arm. When Scott put her arm down, Rivers stabbed her in the neck, severing an artery. Scott said, “I would not have survived if I weren’t at a hospital. I had an artery severed. I would have been dead within a matter of minutes.” McMahan was stabbed in the head and lung. Both suffer from PTSD, lasting physical effects, and both left their careers.
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The incident came after Scott said:
“We had repeated violent attacks on staff, not only in the hospital, but in triage, where I was working and where Kayla was working, too. Incident reports were filed. Incident reports were ignored. Nothing changed after our attack.”
However, one thing did change: Scott added that, “After our attack, the very next day, suddenly they had metal detectors, and they placed security, 24/7 outside of triage.” Another thing that changed is that St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Melissa Price Smith created a special unit within her office that deals specifically with workplace assaults on healthcare workers in January of this year. Smith said, “I am very aware that at least 50% of health care workers report having been assaulted on the job.”
“(SSM) had all the warnings they could possibly need. This was 100% preventable,” said one SSM nurse who previously worked at DePaul.https://t.co/bXEe9i6qOU
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch (@stltoday) July 13, 2022
Tammy Scott’s tales of incidents being ignored back up a problem that is only getting worse. Healthcare workers make up 10 percent of the workforce, but experience 48 percent of non-fatal injuries in the workplace. A January 2024 survey showed that 91 percent of emergency physicians had been the victim of violence or had a colleague who was. Those healthcare workers did not have much confidence that their employers would address the problem. A 2024 American College of Emergency Physicians survey showed that 50 percent of those who reported incidents said nothing was done, and a 2024 National Nurses survey showed that 45 percent of respondents said their employer ignored incidents of violence, and 29 percent said their employer reprimanded or blamed the employee.
On a personal note, as someone who spent 30 years in healthcare, 22 years as a hospital pharmacy technician, I can attest to the fact that attacks on healthcare workers have only gotten worse. I was lucky; I was only verbally assaulted. But I knew I had to get out. My husband continues to work part-time at the hospital where we met. Metal detectors and security at the entrances were only instituted there after the DePaul attack as well.
Tammy Scott has a new calling now. She says, “I am a voice for healthcare professionals, and that is now my quest to push for change.” Often, as Price Smith said, healthcare workers are told to “toughen up” and that violence is a job hazard. No. It’s not.
I might not have been as deep in the trenches as Tammy Scott and Kayla McMahan, but if they needed me to be, I would be just as loud.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.
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