Nebraska Medicine employee stabbed in the face after insisting on drawing blood from patient

Zachery Dvorak was arrested for assault on a healthcare worker and use of a weapon to commit a felony 

Omaha police said that a 37-year-old man is facing felony charges for assault on a healthcare worker after he is alleged to have stabbed a staff member in the face at the University of Nebraska Medical Center on Friday.

Prior to the incident, the patient is said to have explicitly refused a blood draw

According to a hospital spokesman, Zacherey Dvorak refused to have his blood drawn by UNMC phlebotomist Meagan Strande, 30, around 8:30 a.m. last Friday on the fourth floor of the Lied Transplant Center at UNMC.

As Strande ignored the patient's refusal and continued to attempt to draw blood from the man, Dvorak suddenly attacked the healthcare worker with a weapon that he fashioned from ordinary items found in his room.

Other staff members and the medical center's security officers had to restrain Dvorak until police arrived to take him into custody.

The injured employee was taken to the emergency room, where she was treated for a small laceration to the face, which required stitches.

Dvorak was booked Douglas County Corrections for assault on a healthcare professional and the use of a weapon to commit felony for stabbing the Nebraska Medicine employee.

The case underlines the importance of getting consent before doing anything on a patient

While we don't condone violence on healthcare workers and feel the assailant should receive some form of punishment for his crimes, we do, however, see some troubling mitigating factors in the case which may lessen the punishments for the accused in question and place some liability on UNMC.

In this country, "no" means "no." So it is possible that the defense will use the argument that the UNMC staff member insisting on drawing blood, even after the patient refused, could be construed by the patient as a form of assault itself. So Dvorak may have attacked the UNMC staff member in self-defense because he felt threatened by the UNMC staff member who ignored his requests.

While this argument is not likely going to get Dvorak completely off the hook, it could lessen any punishments imposed against him because there is some liability for the incident for UNMC trying to make a blood draw on the patient against his wishes. In fact, Dvorak could, in theory, countersue UNMC for trying to compel an invasive medical test against his explicit wishes.

The story underlines an important requirement in any medical procedure or test: You always need to get consent from a patient prior to doing anything on him/her. Therefore, the case is not all that black and white.

References:

• WENY-TV—Patient stabbed Nebraska Medicine employee while getting blood drawn (7/22/17)
• Omaha World-Herald—Patient attacks Nebraska Medical Center phlebotomist who was trying to draw blood (7/22/17)
• Omaha World-Herald—Patient attacks Nebraska Medical Center phlebotomist who was trying to draw blood (7/22/17)
• WOWT—Nebraska Medicine employee stabbed by patient (7/22/17)
• KETV—Man arrested, accused of stabbing Nebraska Medicine employee (7/21/17)
• KMTV—Hospital employee cut on face in attack at UNMC, police say (7/21/17)