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A man is fighting for his life after being allegedly attacked with a hammer in his bed at Royal Prince Alfred hospital on Thursday morning.
Viki Graham, 46, allegedly walked into the Camperdown hospital at 12.15am, and spoke calmly with staff before entering the man’s four-bedded bay in a general ward and striking him on the head.
Initial police enquiries suggest the man, 63, is related to Graham, but they are not in a domestic relationship.
The man is on life support in the intensive care unit of the hospital after suffering serious injuries to the head. The NSW Police Homicide Squad was put on standby about 4am, amid concerns about the man’s condition.
Sydney Local Health District chief executive Deb Willcox described the patient as a “really lovely” person who has had a “reasonably” long stay in the hospital.
“The patient is well known to the staff who care about that person very much, and our primary interest is his wellbeing,” Willcox said. “Obviously, people have been rattled and stressed by the events, as anyone would be.”
Graham was taken to Newtown Police Station, where she was charged with grievous bodily harm. She was refused bail to appear in court on Thursday.
Visitors are not permitted on RPA’s general wards after 8pm except in limited circumstances, including when a family member is close to death.
Several senior RPA clinicians said they were shocked that such an event had occurred at the hospital.
“This is extremely unsettling,” said one doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity. “I have never in my many years of practice here have ever heard of such a thing [happening] here.”
A security office is located inside the hospital’s main entrance. A perspex window faces the main walkway.
Staff said the hospital had a relatively high security presence, mainly to help manage patients with behavioral disturbances or drug-affected presentations.
But visiting hours on wards were essentially policed by nursing staff, who were instructed to ask members of the public to leave the premises after hours.
NSW hospitals are contending with escalating levels of violence and aggression, but a brutal assault allegedly perpetrated by a member of the public on a patient is extremely rare.
In June 2024, a security guard was allegedly stabbed, and several nurses were injured by a man armed with a knife in the emergency department at Westmead Hospital.
A recent survey compiled by the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association found 88 per cent of nurses, midwives and carers had experienced violence in the previous year, with public hospital staff most commonly exposed.
The Sydney Local Health District and NSW Health have been approached for comment.
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Daniel Lo Surdo is a breaking news reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He previously helmed the national news live blog for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.From our partners
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