Penn State Health Holy Spirit Medical Center
HARRISBURG, Pa. – A Pennsylvania man who stabbed himself in the eye with a scalpel is suing the Cumberland County hospital where it happened and an emergency room doctor.
According to his Nov. 13 lawsuit filed in the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas, Christopher Spotts was brought to the Penn State Health Holy Spirit Medical Center last year by police with an altered mental status.
Spotts had stolen a phone, called 911 and had been found on a sidewalk talking about aliens in his home. At the emergency room, he was unable to provide a “coherent medical history” and was placed alone in a room.
A nurse reached Spotts’ uncle on the phone and was told he’d been acting “weird” that day. Twenty-six minutes later, he was found bloodied in his room. He’d removed a scalpel from a trauma unit in the room and stabbed himself in the right eye.
Spotts is now completely blind in that eye.
“To date, he continues to navigate the challenges he now faces due to his injuries,” the suit says. “As a result of his injury, Mr. Spotts’ mental health disorder has been exacerbated significantly.”
Dr. Robert Waller is accused of failing to secure the trauma equipment, initiate involuntary mental health commitment and recognize a patient in mental distress, among other things.
Spotts, who was 31 years old at the time, claims it was reckless for the hospital and Waller to place him in a room by himself. Waller had planned a CT scan of the head, bloodwork and urinalysis, but Spott became agitated when told.
Waller’s notes say Spotts should be discharged if he could contact a family member to vouch for his mental status.
“If not, I do not believe that he has capacity to refuse the workup at this time and we will therefore continue with the plan,” Waller wrote.
At 6:48 p.m., he was still refusing care. The uncle was reached at 7:41, and Spotts stabbed himself sometime before 10:17. The hospital is accused of not knowing the problems its staff had with handling situations like Spotts’.