TMH quickly restores power, plumbing after patient causes property damage to ER
A patient at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare's Bixler Trauma and Emergency Center caused property damage that briefly interrupted electrical and plumbing at a portion of the hospital.
The patient "climbed into the walls," according to Florida Politics. The news site reported power was "taken out" and plumbing "destroyed" in two of three "pods" where patients are served. In addition, the site said hospital staff chased the patient around the emergency room for nearly 90 minutes before detaining him.
The Tallahassee Democrat made contact with a TMH spokesperson who said the hospital was not offline and "everything is operating normally at Bixler."
The hospital would not confirm details of the Florida Politics report citing patient privacy, but released a full statement on the incident.
"Early this morning, property damage occurred to a contained area of Bixler Trauma & Emergency Center at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH)," the statement read. "The damage was isolated to two areas and included electrical and plumbing. A portion of Bixler was without power for approximately one hour before it was restored by our facilities team."
"Out of an abundance of caution, patients in the affected area were moved to another area of the Emergency Center that was not currently in use," the statement continued. "Bixler remained open and operational during the entirety of the incident, with patient care and acceptance of EMS patients continuing. Repairs to the damaged areas were initiated immediately, and all but one patient room were up and operational within three hours of the incident."
Contact Economic Development Reporter TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com and follow @TaMarynWaters on X.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Patient detained at TMH Trauma, Emergency Center after briefly disrupting power, plumbing
