When Genevive George was groped by a patient in an elevator at Eskenazi Health, she called the public hospital’s police force for help.
“This was a time when I was grateful to have security on-site,” said George, who was a care coordinator at Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center when the incident occurred in 2024.
The man was escorted off the mental health clinic’s property. But, ultimately, the 29-year-old healthcare worker said she declined to press charges. “This guy was not in his right mind,” George said. “I wanted him to be able to come back here, because he deserves healthcare.”
Mirror Indy published an investigation June 17 into a hospital to jail pipeline at Eskenazi Health, which shows the majority of people arrested in the past five years were not physically violent. Instead, people were arrested most often for misdemeanors such as trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Healthcare workers across the city weighed in. In social media comments and interviews with Mirror Indy, they described navigating a tension between protecting themselves and taking care of patients at several Indianapolis hospitals.
Some medical workers say police and prosecution are the answer to workplace violence against nurses and doctors. That stance is in line with the Indiana Hospital Association, which spent a decade lobbying lawmakers to create hospital police departments and upgrade penalties against the people they arrest.
Other healthcare workers believe the presence of hospital officers is harmful to vulnerable patients — and that police action can make difficult situations even harder. They echo concerns from Marion County Sheriff Kerry Forestal and local public defenders, who warned people experiencing mental health crises are being criminalized instead of treated.
Eskenazi Health officials declined to comment specifically on the incident involving George, saying they are unable to discuss incidents involving patients and staff, but emailed a statement. “The safety and wellbeing of our patients, visitors, and staff remain our highest priority,” spokesperson Todd Harper wrote.
George is still searching for a solution. “People deserve not to be attacked at work,” she said. “But patients are also allowed to be disappointed with their care. You shouldn’t assume someone who is yelling is dangerous.”
And, she said, while arresting people may end an active situation, it doesn’t solve the underlying issue.
“People won’t get the care they need,” George said. “They’re going to keep coming back to the hospital. That doesn’t make workers safer.”
‘I did not go to nursing school to be abused’
Tracy Klinkhamer still remembers Dec. 2, 2024.
The nurse was working at one of Ascension St. Vincent’s neighborhood emergency departments. A patient who was intoxicated tried to flee the hospital. Court records described how several workers, including Klinkhamer, tried to restrain him; the patient then scratched her and spit in her face.
“I did not go to nursing school to be abused,” the nurse told Mirror Indy. “I don’t know when people decided they could do or say whatever they want to healthcare workers.”
Ascension St. Vincent did not respond to requests by phone and email for comment about the incident.
After the arrest, records show the man was placed under an emergency detention order for mental health. Ultimately, he got about a year of probation, with the condition of continuing therapy. Eventually, a judge agreed to reduce his felony conviction to a misdemeanor.
Klinkhamer doesn’t think the punishment was enough.
“Are you kidding me?” she said. “He should be in jail.”
In January, Klinkhamer testified before Indiana lawmakers, asking them to upgrade cases like hers to felonies when batteries are committed against any type of healthcare worker. The legislation passed, creating stricter penalties.
“If they’re not being prosecuted or having penalties enforced, people don’t care,” Klinkhamer told Mirror Indy. “It felt like I was not important enough for anyone to stand up for me.”
At the same time, Klinkhamer recognizes the forces that led to the battery against her: there’s not enough mental health services for people in crisis — and the hospital becomes the last resort.
Researchers at IU Indianapolis estimate that nearly 26,000 Marion County residents with a serious mental illness are not able to get the treatment they need. That’s on top of Indiana’s shortage of mental health workers.
“The care for folks is decreasing all the time,” Klinkhamer said. “Until we have places with open beds to send people who need help, we’re going to have the same issues.”
Paramedic sees conditions leading to arrests
From the inside of an ambulance, Jassenia Wood has a unique view of what’s driving hospital arrests.
The 28-year-old works as a 911 paramedic in Indianapolis. The county agency, which is affiliated with Eskenazi Health, responds to emergency calls and transports people to hospitals across Indianapolis.
“We are so understaffed and people are taking advantage of 911,” she told Mirror Indy. “Hospitals are overcrowded, and people get violent towards us because of it.”
She described responding to a mix of calls every day —- a life threatening emergency in one moment, then a person asking for a ride downtown the next. And, sometimes, she sees patients get upset after they’re asked to leave the hospital.
“It’s a 50/50 chance between it being people who do not want to wait for a room to open up and lash out and people experiencing homelessness or mental illness,” Wood said. “If we had more resources, I think all of this hospital trespassing and overcrowding would decrease.”
Arrests, she said, may be necessary when someone is violent and understands what they are doing. But someone acting out because of physical pain or mental illness can be a different story.
“If I get minorly hurt because I am saving somebody, I am OK with that,” Wood said. “If police just arrest someone because they’re having a mental health episode, that doesn’t help anybody.”
She continued: “If anything, the person will spiral and we will be called to the jail to pick them up anyway.”
‘Eskenazi is supposed to serve’
When Janet Vondersaar learned about the trend of arrests at Eskenazi Health and other Indianapolis hospitals, she was shocked.
The nurse for over a decade at Wishard Memorial Hospital and moved over to Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital after it was rebranded in 2013. Back then at Wishard, she said, there was security, but no specialized hospital police making arrests.
“The nurses knew the frequent flyers in the emergency room,” Vondersaar said. “People came for whatever reason — they’re drunk or homeless — and we tended to them until morning. They weren’t just thrown back out the door.”
She heard the concerns of local public defenders, who said they have represented people arrested for trespassing at hospitals while waiting for rides or in the parking lot.
“That is ridiculous,” Vondersaar said. “People don’t have transportation. This is exactly who Eskenazi is supposed to serve!”
The public hospital’s mission includes caring for vulnerable populations in Marion County. As a county safety net hospital, it cannot turn away people based on income and serves many patients who are uninsured or on Medicaid.
A spokesperson for Eskenazi Health did not answer specific questions about the trespassing cases or Vondersaar’s concerns. But to the nurse, who retired from Eskenazi Health in 2016, the arrests are a sign the public hospital has lost its way.
“People who don’t have the means have a very, very hard time getting their needs met,” she said. “There should be a place for them to go. Eskenazi is supposed to be that place.”
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Mirror Indy reporter Mary Claire Molloy covers health. Reach her at 317-721-7648 or email maryclaire.molloy@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @mcmolloy7.
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