A UF Health-Leesburg Hospital doctor has been arrested after an alleged attack on a patient.
A Leesburg police officer was dispatched Tuesday morning to investigate an alleged battery of a patient by an employee of the hospital. The officer met with the director of Emergency Services for the hospitals as well as two registered nurses and an ER technician.
The ER director had received information Dr. Onyekachi Nwabuko had repeatedly struck a female patient. The two nurses and the ER technician witnessed the 40-year-old physician batter the woman on three different occasions. An IV line was ripped from the victim’s arm causing her to bleed onto herself, according to the police report. Nwabuko ordered a staff member to get another face mask for the patient, left the room and then came back and repeatedly slapped the woman with her own hand. The medical staff indicated to the police that one of the tests used to determine if someone is faking being unconscious is to hold the patient’s hand over her face and let it go. If the patient stops the hand before it hits their face, the patient could be faking being unconscious.
The patient told the officer that she had come to the emergency room for help. When she was in a semi-unconscious state, Nwabuko accused her of faking her condition. He picked up her left hand and used it to strike her face several times. A nurse finally stopped him. The patient said the doctor had been laughing at her. The officer noted bruising to the patient’s right eye.
Nwabuko was placed under arrest and transported to the Lake County Jail where he was booked on three counts of battery. He was released after posting $9,000 bond.
