Utah hospital will no longer allow police in patient-care areas after the violent arrest of a nurse

Alex Wubbles talks to NBC Today
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/NBC News)

Last Thursday, a nurse at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City released police bodycam footage of her rough arrest by a Salt Lake City police officer after she correctly refused to allow blood to be drawn without a warrant from an unconscious truck driver burned in a crash involving a police car and a fleeing suspect. On Monday, the University of Utah Hospital said it would never allow anything like the July 26 incident to happen again.

At a news conference, interim hospital CEO Gordon Crabtree said he was "deeply troubled" by the incident and praised the nurse, Alex Wubbels, for "putting her own safety at risk" to "protect the rights of patients." Margaret Pearce, chief of nursing, said new rules in place since mid-August barred police officers from entering patient-care areas like the burn unit and emergency room, and prohibited law enforcement from interacting directly with nurses, making police go through "house supervisors" when they wanted something. The officer, Detective Jeff Payne, is on administrative leave and there are internal and criminal investigations of the incident underway.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.