A 53-year-old behavioral health patient attacked a nurse in a Florida hospital on Saturday, causing the death of her unborn child.
Joseph Wuerz faces charges of aggravated battery of a pregnant woman and aggravated battery of a first responder. He is currently booked in the Seminole County Jail and being held without bond.
According to an arrest affidavit, the nurse, who was 32 weeks pregnant, was administering medication to a patient at Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital when Wuerz shoved her into a wall. He repeatedly kicked her before being pulled off of her by several staff members and security guards.
The nurse later went to get checked out at Winnie Palmer Hospital, where she learned her baby did not survive the attack. She told investigators that she “believes the stress she was under during the attack may have caused her unborn child’s death.”
It’s unclear what motivated the attack.
