Last month Carlie Beaudin, a thirty-three-year-old nurse practitioner, left work late. She walked to her car in a cold and dark parking garage.

Ultimately she was discovered frozen to the ground by her own blood, beneath her car.

A valet, recently fired from the same hospital that Carlie was walking from, brutally beat her and crammed her under her car. She was later found by security on the cusp of death.

I did not know Carlie, described as nurturing with a warm strength. Yet, I have the honor of working alongside people like her. I work with caring and compassionate people that knowingly expose themselves to the tough parts of life in order to be of service.

My heart breaks for the life stolen from Carlie. My heart breaks for her last hours of life. Carlie served as a NP working in hematology/oncology who guided people with illness to ensure dignity throughout their journey. Yet, she suffered the indignity of this brutal lethal assault. My heart breaks for her family, robbed of years of love and life together.

This was an extreme episode of violence.

My reaction has been visceral. I feel sick thinking about what happened. I consider what we deal with: the thousand cuts of indignities we all cope with in healthcare. Where is the line?

This year, I have witnessed or heard second hand accounts of patients throwing medical equipment, patients striking healthcare workers with their fist, patients grabbing a healthcare worker in the buttocks after masturbating in the same healthcare worker’s presence. These stories are not at all unique. It is routine to hear yelling and cursing from patients to staff. Where is the line?

Sentinel events, everyday violence and near-misses are happening all over the country. The purpose of a hospital is to support health and healing. The violence occurring in this environment opposes its very purpose.

The data: In a national survey conducted for the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), 62% of the 3,539 ER doctors reported being assaulted in the last year, with 24% saying that this occurred 2-5 times.  71% reported witnessing assault at work. 97% of the assailants were patients. Almost half of emergency physicians report being physically assaulted. About half of those assaulted report being hit or slapped. Almost one-third of those say they were punched, kicked or spit on. Nearly all women who are emergency physicians (96%) and 80 percent of men reported that a patient or visitor made inappropriate comments or unwanted advances toward them.

This violence is not, by any means, limited to physicians in healthcare.  Hospital staff experiences double the rate of work injuries when compared to all other occupations with the exception of police forces and the military.   The Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows the rate of attacks on hospital nurses more than doubled from 2008 to 2016. With the limited data we have, we can see that this problem is getting worse.  This is unacceptable.

Hospitals need to be protected as places of health and healing.  Respect, honoring the dignity and worth of other humans needs to be restored in the relationship between care providers and their patients.