Landmark Sentencing Occurs for Attacker of Injured Nurse

ALBANY, NY (11/04/2011)(readMedia)-- A landmark sentencing took place this morning because of the courage of a nurse, the Violence Against Nurses Law and the cooperation of Albany's District Attorney.

Judi Rychcik, a NYS Public Employee Federation (PEF) member and nurse who was knocked unconscious while on the job at the Capital District Psychiatric Center (CDPC) in Albany, faced her attacker at a sentencing hearing in Albany County Court Judge Dan Lamont's courtroom.

Terry James, a CDPC patient, received five years in prison after knocking Rychcik down when she entered a room to respond to a crisis intervention code on March 13, 2011. From the punch and subsequent fall, her skull was split open and she sustained injuries to her neck, head and brain.

"This may have been avoided, and I may not have been assaulted if there were more staff and more security. There should not be cut backs when dealing with people with mental health conditions," Rychcik said.

"If this attack took place two years ago, we would not be here today," said PEF President Ken Brynien. "The Violence Against Nurses Law was designed to help protect our nurses. PEF was aggressive in getting this law passed. It will go a long way in helping to protect our nurses when patients realize there will be consequences for their actions. We also applaud the district attorneys who have helped enforce this law."

PEF Director of Occupational Safety and Health Jonathan Rosen said, "For too long, the culture in healthcare facilities and among criminal authorities has been that violence is part of the job. Violence hurts patients and staff alike. While we do not celebrate the criminal prosecution of Terry James, we laud District Attorney David Soares for investigating every assault at CDPC to ensure patients and staff are treated equally under the law.

"The Violence Against Nurses Law, also known as the Nurse Felony Law, went into effect in November 2010.

"For decades nurses and others serving the needs of their patients have had to endure brutal acts of violence in the work place. For some inexplicable reason, the criminal justice response and the response of facilities has been to blame the victim or to suggest that they had to assume the risk associated with their employment. Years ago the Office of the Albany County District Attorney engaged with PEF and developed a strategy designed to hold accountable offenders, but also to let our practitioners know that we support them. And now we have a law we can work with to compliment our efforts. The case of Mr. James reflects the results of our collective efforts," said Albany's District Attorney David Soares.

PEF is the state's second-largest state-employee union representing 55,000 professional, scientific and technical (PS&T) employees and other public and private employees.