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NHS agency takes out private prosecution against mentally ill patient who hit healthcare assistant

BMJ 2013; 347 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f7052 (Published 25 November 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;347:f7052
  1. Clare Dyer
  1. 1BMJ

A psychiatric inpatient who knocked unconscious a healthcare assistant at an NHS hospital has been given a section 37 hospital order and ordered to pay £75 (€90; $120) compensation to the victim, whose jaw was dislocated.

Prosecutions of psychiatric inpatients are rare because of the problem of establishing that someone who is mentally ill enough to be in hospital is responsible for his or her actions.

Ronald Ashworth, 35, pleaded guilty to causing actual …

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