Florida/New Delhi: The brutal assault on a 67-year-old Indian origin nurse at a hospital in Florida, USA, has led to outrage within the medical fraternity and others, not only in the US, but also in India. While medical professionals have called for greater security at such facilities, some others have linked the assault to US president Donald Trump’s recent attacks on India and other countries, over the imposition of tariff, and his crackdown on illegal immigrants.
This belief could have stemmed from reports that the accused, 33-year-old Stephen Scantlebury, had said, “Indians are bad. I just beat the **** out of an Indian doctor,” after the attack. His wife, however, maintained that Scantlebury is mentally unstable and suffers from paranoia.
Leelamma Lal is a nurse at the HCA Florida Palms West Hospital. Surveillance camera footage captured Scantlebury assaulting her viciously, without any provocation, whatsoever. The man, who was admitted to the psychiatric ward of the hospital, then ran out shirtless, with cables still hanging to his chest and arms. He made the comments in the presence of a police officer who later confirmed it before a court. The man has been arrested and charged with attempting second-degree murder. The judge refused to allow his plea to be transferred to a mental health facility, calling it ‘premature’.
Leelamma, meanwhile, is admitted to the critical care unit of the hospital with multiple facial fractures, a broken collarbone, and brain haemorrhage. According to her daughter Cindy Joseph: “The right side of her face was completely broken, and she suffered subdural and intermittent bleeding of the brain. Her face was heavily bruised, her eyes were swollen, and she was unconscious and intubated. I didn’t recognise her at all.”
