On August 26, 2015 Alan Pean sought medical care at St. Joseph Medical Center for a mental health crisis. He was experiencing intense anxiety and such severe disorientation that in his haste to reach the hospital, he was involved in a car accident. The hospital treated him for the wounds relating to the accident and admitted him as a patient.

On August 27th, Alan’s parents flew in from McAllen, TX, noted Alan’s strange behavior and immediately requested a psychiatric evaluation. The hospital refused. Instead, the hospital stated they would discharge Alan against the family’s wishes. This was their first act of negligence. Before Alan could be discharged home, he became agitated with hospital staff and was shot in the chest by a hospital security guard, placing him in critical condition requiring care in the ICU. For two days his family could only visit him for 10 minutes a day through a glass window. He was also charged with two counts of aggravated assault against an officer. It is unfathomable that a patient seeking medical care would be treated in such a violent manner by the people to whom he is entrusting his life.

 When patients enter a hospital, they do so with the intention of leaving in a better condition than which they arrived. On St Joseph’s website they state that at “St. Joseph Medical Center, our goal is to help patients have a safe and positive hospital experience.” This experience cannot honestly include being shot by hospital security. There is no realistic scenario under which an unarmed, agitated patient should—instead of being subdued by medication—be subdued by the force of a bullet. Are there no protocols at St. Joseph Medical Center on how to treat agitated patients? Is this the new standard of care at St. Joseph Medical Center?

 We are asking for a full and transparent investigation of the actions that transpired on August 27, 2015. We hold the hospital responsible for the lack of judgment of its personnel and its gross disregard for the wellbeing of its patients. We demand that the aggravated assault charges against Alan be dropped. St. Joseph Medical Center must be held responsible for its negligence. In hospitals across America, well-trained hospital staffs subdue agitated patients on a daily basis without firing guns or placing the patient in the position of losing his or her life. We are asking no more, and no less, of St. Joseph Medical Center.