Hospital casualty departments now resemble "strong rooms" rather than facilities for the sick, because some people believe they can hit the nursing staff whenever they feel like it, Judge Murrough Connellan said yesterday. He was speaking before imposing a three-month suspended sentence on a man who punched a nurse on the shoulder because he objected to having to queue.
Alan Lynch (26), care of the Iveagh Hostel, Dublin, pleaded guilty to assaulting the nurse in the Mater Hospital on July 9th last. Garda Jonathan Brady, from Mountjoy station, told Dublin District Court that Lynch was very drunk and objected to having to queue when a nurse asked him to sit down. "He punched her in the shoulder and she was very upset by the incident", the garda said.
Lynch's solicitor, Mr John Gaffney, said that his client had a drink problem and had been brought to the Mater by ambulance, although he had wanted to go to St Ita's Hospital in Portrane. He had not understood that he would have to go to the Mater before being referred on to Portrane. He had since apologised to staff in the hospital.
Judge Connellan said that there was no excuse for the assault. He noted that Lynch had no previous convictions and took account of the fact that the assault was not serious, but added: "You would have a job convincing the nurse who was assaulted that she does not have to be afraid of the next person who comes into hospital inebriated."