The Ohio State University Nurses Association is calling University Hospital management "negligent" after a nurse was assaulted by a visitor last week. The union also wants the hospital system's chief administrative officer, Elizabeth Seely, to resign.
"Nurses feel completely unsafe," Ohio Nurses Association President Rick Lucas said Monday.
"They haven't responded with any substance," Lucas said of management.
The nurses' organization said the nurse on Nov. 6 tried to break up a fight between a female patient and a male family member who was holding a newborn baby. The man reportedly strangled the nurse and dragged her down the hallway.
The nurses' organization said hospital staff didn't check on the nurse after the incident.
In a statement forwarded Monday by Wexner Medical Center spokeswoman Marti Leitch, the hospital said the man pulled the nurse into the hallway by her shirt collar.
"The nursing staff, medical center security and Ohio State University police quickly responded to de-escalate the situation and ensure the baby’s safety. The man released the baby unharmed, and he was taken to the emergency department for medical evaluation because of the nature of his behavior," the statement said.
The hospital acknowledged that the nurse didn't receive support services until the next morning -- but said it is working to make sure a delay like that doesn't happen again.
"This altercation is a troubling example of a persisting national problem. No one should face the threat of harm at work. We remain firmly committed to providing a safe and secure environment for everyone who comes to our facilities to work, learn or receive care," the hospital said.
Lucas said the nurse stepped into a violent situation to try to save a newborn.
He said there is growing violence with hospital visitors, often over custody disputes.
In a letter to Seely, sent on Monday, asking her to step down, Lucas wrote: "This was your moment to show integrity — to do the right thing — to demonstrate that OSU takes workplace violence seriously. Instead, you chose to circle the wagons, close ranks, and protect the institution rather than the people inside it. You left the nurse who was attacked — and everyone else who depends on your leadership — out in the cold."
"This only serves to deepen the trauma and shatter trust in ways that may never be repaired. You are breaking things in people that can’t be put back together," Lucas wrote.
This past summer, the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center said it was updating safety procedures after finishing a workplace safety review.
The measures included weapon detection systems to hospital entrances beginning in August, starting with Harding Hospital, East Hospital and the Brain and Spine Center. The detention systems have also been installed at the entrances of the on-campus university hospital.
Emergency departments already had weapon detection systems in place.
In 2024, more than 9,500 weapons were stopped from entering emergency departments at University Hospital and East Hospital. That included more than 6,600 knives or blades, 72 firearms, 231 stun guns, 1,888 pepper spray canisters and more than 780 miscellaneous weapons such as brass knuckles, chains, utility tools and blunt instruments.
The Wexner Medical Center reported 402 incidents in 2024 where patients or visitors became violent with more than 41% of incidents involving nurses.