University Of Utah Hospital, Where Alex Wubbels Works, Tells Cops To Stay Away From Patients, Workers

The University of Utah Hospital, where nurse Alex Wubbles works, has told the police that they are no longer welcome in patient care areas or to have contact with any nurses, Washington Post is reporting.

Nurse Alex Wubbels was thrust into the public eye in September when a video of her July 26 arrest was made public. Wubbels was on duty that night when an unconscious truck driver was brought in following an accident. Salt Lake City police were there, too as the truck driver had been involved in an accident stemming from a high-speed pursuit involving SLCPD officers.

Detective Jeff Payne demanded a blood sample from the unconscious truck driver, and nurse Wubbels refused. Both Utah law and federal law protect patients from having blood drawn without their consent or a warrant. Payne had neither, and Wubbles continued to try to explain both the law and hospital policy to him. She even had a hospital supervisor explain the laws and policies to him on speaker phone. Eventually, Payne snapped and grabbed the nurse and took her outside of the hospital.

In the dramatic video of the incident, which you can see below, Wubbels can be heard screaming “Help me!” and “You’re assaulting me!” as Payne takes her outside the building and into a patrol car.

Since the video went public, Payne has been suspended, according to NPR News.

Meanwhile, University of Utah Hospital Interim Chief Executive Gordon Crabtree has made it clear that police are no longer welcome in patient care areas.

“This will not happen again.”

Specifically, the hospital has laid out plans in order to prevent such a situation from occurring again. Moving forward says Crabtree, police officers will not be allowed in patient care areas without a warrant. Further, officers will not be allowed to talk to nurses or other medical personnel, but rather, their communication will go through “house supervisors.”

Margaret Pearce, chief nursing officer for the University of Utah hospital system, says that the new policies will allow nurses and other medical staff to dedicate themselves 100 percent to patient care.

“Law enforcement who come to the hospital for any reason involving patients will be required to check in to the front desk of the hospital. There, a hospital house supervisor will meet the officers to work through each request.”

As NPR News notes, the new policies went into effect the day after Wubbels’ arrest, but they are only now being made public in light of the media attention this issue has received.

University of Utah Police Chief Dale Brophy has personally apologized to Wubbels for the incident. Wubbels, for her part, has said that she doesn’t intend to “police the police,” but she is prepared to sue if she is not satisfied with how police departments involved in the incident update their policies.

[Featured Image by Rick Bowmer/AP]