Nurse's fatal visit to patient's home renews calls for better safety measures

7/12/2023 14:12

                The killing of a Connecticut nurse making a house call in October was a nightmare come true for an industry gripped by the fear of violence.
        
        Already stressed out by staffing shortages and mounting caseloads, heath care workers are increasingly worrying about the possibility of a patient becoming violent - a scenario that is too common and on the rise nationwide.
        
        Joyce Grayson, a 63-year-old mother of six, went into a halfway house for sex offenders in late October, to give medication to a man with a violent past. She didn't make it out alive.
        
        Police found her body in the basement and have named her patient as the main suspect in her killing.
        
        Grayson's death has her peers and lawmakers renewing their yearslong pleas for better protections for home health care workers, including sending them out with escorts and providing more information about their patients. The calls come during an era of increasing violence against medical professionals in general.
        
        Grayson, who had been a nurse for over 36 years including the last 10 as a visiting nurse, was found dead Oct. 28 in the Willimantic halfway house. She didn’t return from a visit to patient Michael Reese, a convicted rapist. No charges have been filed in the killing yet.