San Francisco Hospital Psych Patient Attacks 93 Year-Old
Feb. 19--SAN FRANCISCO -- A 93-year-old woman was attacked by a psychiatric patient at San Francisco General Hospital, officials said Wednesday.
Mary Perez, who went to the hospital for breathing problems, was attacked by Orin Zebest around 10 p.m. Friday as he was being wheeled on a gurney from the medical emergency room to the psychiatric emergency room, said Rachael Kagan, a spokeswoman for the hospital.
Zebest, 29, allegedly jumped from the gurney, ran into Perez's room and attacked her with the pole of an intravenous fluid machine, witnesses said. He was quickly subdued by sheriff's deputies who are stationed at the hospital, Kagan said.
"We had no indication that he was going to behave like that," she said. "No psych patient has ever attacked another patient at the hospital."
Perez suffered minor injuries and is in good condition, Kagan said.
"It was a very unfortunate incident," the spokeswoman said. "But the whole thing took less than a minute. We were lucky to have the police and sheriff's deputies on hand when it happened."
The hospital treats more than 4,000 psychiatric patients a year, and it is common for them to be evaluated in the medical emergency room before being transferred, Kagan said.
She said the hospital would review its procedures in light of last week's incident.
Zebest is being held in County Jail on suspicion of assault and inflicting injury on an elderly person. His bail was set at $250,000.
Kale Williams is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: kwilliams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfkale
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