A female GP suffered from a broken jaw after the son of a former patient angrily burst into her surgery and attacked her for failing to diagnose his late father’s Motor Neuron Disease.
Dr. Victoria Hunter was seeing another patient when Steven Cook barged in her office. Cook, 41, was angry about his father’s treatment and blamed Dr. Hunter for his death earlier this month.
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Victoria Surgery
The doctor tried to hit the panic button in her room, but he started punching her up to five times in the face.
Prosecutor Richard Murrison said: “She curled into a ball on the floor and screamed for help. She said the assault felt like it lasted two or three minutes before the defendant left the room.”
Colleagues came to Dr. Hunter’s aid as an ambulance was called to the Victoria Surgery in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.
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Victoria Surgery
Her injuries included a displaced front tooth, cuts to her lips, swelling to her face and a suspected broken jaw.
She also suffered grazing to an elbow and bruises on an arm in the attack, which occurred around 10:10 am on June 18.
A member of the public dialled 999, stating that Cook had a weapon in a bag. But the court was told he was unarmed when the police arrived at the scene.
Cook claimed that his attack was “an act of retribution” following the death of his father who was treated by Dr Hunter.
Murrison said, “She will require several days off work and has been left feeling scared.”
“This was someone in the workplace, going about their job.”
The attackers lawyer, Mark Thompson, said Cook noticed an ‘immediate deterioration’ in his father’s health after being prescribed statins for high cholesterol two years ago.
“He was of the belief his father was developing motor neurone disease and tried to persuade the doctor to take his father off statins,” said Thompson.
“It turns out Mr. Cook was admitted to hospital two or three weeks ago and died on June 9.”
“Mr. Cook said he was told his father did have motor neurone disease.. To him, it seemed all the concerns about statins were supported by the diagnosis,” he added.
“He went to the surgery to speak to staff, but admits he just lost it.”
Cook admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and was remanded in custody to be sentence at Ipswich Crown Court on a date to be fixed.
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