DUBOIS – A West Decatur woman is facing felony charges for allegedly assaulting a doctor at Penn Highlands DuBois.
Police say Terri Patterson, 38, fought with staff before striking a doctor on May 1 at the facility.
She is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault and summary harassment in connection with the incident.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, police were called to the emergency room to investigate a report of a patient assaulting hospital staff.
The doctor told officers that Patterson was yelling obscenities at the staff and he tried to intervene.
After he told Patterson that harsh language and insults towards the staff “would not be tolerated,” and tried to lead her back into her room, she started “swinging” at him multiple times without making contact.
He got between her and the other staff before Patterson reportedly lunged at him and struck him in the abdomen/leg area.
Once they got her back into her bed, she attempted to strike and bite the employees, but nobody was injured, the doctor said.
Another employee who was watching Patterson before the assault said she was “acting erratic and laughing inappropriately”.
After Patterson yelled that she wanted a “[expletive] drink”, she charged the employee and shoved her in the hallway, she told police.
This is when the doctor and another employee were coming down the hallway. They tried to help get Patterson into her room.
Although she didn’t see the doctor get struck because her head was turned, this employee stated she saw from his facial expression that he had been hit.
A third employee said she saw Patterson assault several staff members including the doctor getting punched and another getting kicked, according to the report.
After a preliminary hearing Friday, District Judge David Meholick ruled all charges be sent on to the court of common pleas for further disposition. She is being held in the Clearfield County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.