Employee alleges attack by patient at Texas City medical facility

GALVESTON - A Hitchcock woman has filed a lawsuit alleging she was attacked while working at a Texas City medical facility.

Rebecca Catherine Fisher filed suit against Riverside General Hospital Inc., Vickie-PHP LLC and Richard Taylor Jr. on Sept. 30 in Galveston County District Court. She claims the defendants failed to prevent a patient from assaulting her in the kitchen on July 25.

The original petition alleges the defendants knew about the patient's violent nature, and that "nothing [Fisher] did nor failed to do caused, or in any way contributed to cause, the occurrence in question."

"(The) plaintiff was exercising ordinary care when suddenly and unexpectedly she was injured due to the dangerous condition and/or hazard existing on the premises which (the) defendants, their agents, servants and employees knew or should have known existed," the suit says.

According to the Riverside General Hospital website, the Texas City facility is one of its sites offering a partial hospitalization program for the treatment of mental illness and substance abuse.

It does not implicate the patient as a defendant, but argues the respondents "failed to adequately supervise and train its employees, including management level employees, who had knowledge before this incident happened of [the patient's] violent nature."

Fisher consequently seeks unspecified monetary damages.

She is represented by Matthews & Forester.

Galveston County 10th District Court Judge David Garner is presiding over the case.

Case No. 11-cv-1554