Officials with a North Carolina hospital reported that because violence against medical personnel is steadily rising, the facility has made employee safety a top priority. The move to work more closely with security teams and city police came after a 25-year-old patient used his HIV-positive blood as a “deadly weapon” against two staffers.
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Now, the suspect just learned his fate after admitting to the ghastly attack.
We previously reported in October how Kameron Gilchrist was in the middle of receiving diabetic treatment at UNC Rex Hospital in Raleigh when he attacked two workers, a man and a woman on March 21. Gilchrist not only removed his IV, but intentionally “aimed his HIV positive blood at the victims’ eyes,” per an arrest warrant. It’s unclear whether the two staffers contracted HIV after the exposure, but a warrant said they did incur physical injuries including irritation.
Gilchrist wasn’t apprehended until six months later because, according to reports, he had been receiving both medical and psychiatric care in the time since and couldn’t be arrested…until September. He was held at the Wake County detention center in lieu of a $25,000 bond. The suspect was initially slapped with two felony charges for assaulting emergency personnel before he copped a plea deal.
On Dec. 11, he pleaded guilty to two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. A judge sentenced him to 91 days in jail, but he immediately walked free after receiving credit for time served, according to court documents. Without a plea deal, he faced up to seven years in prison, the New York Post reported.
A spokesperson for UNC Rex Health told PEOPLE, “Unfortunately, violent situations and threats of violence against health workers have become more common across the country.”
Healthcare workers are estimated to be five times more likely to be injured in a workplace violence incident than workers in all other private sector industries combined, the American College of Surgeons reported.
Nurses have also spoken out, calling patient violence a “silent epidemic.” A 2023 survey found that over 80% of nurses experienced at least one type of workplace violence, with 36% being physically slapped, punched or kicked, and 30% having bodily fluids thrown at them.
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