Zuckerberg Hospital Cuts Deputies, Social Worker Stabbed

This is why you don't substitute social workers for law enforcement.

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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) - The death of a social worker who was allegedly stabbed by a patient armed with a knife is raising concerns about the safety and security of a San Francisco hospital.

Alberto Rangel, 51, was a social worker at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. He died Saturday from injuries he sustained two days earlier when police say he was attacked and stabbed multiple times in the neck and shoulder by a patient armed with a 5-inch kitchen knife.

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The ward complained about the patient before this happened...

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The attack took place in the HIV ward of the hospital, a ward that does not have a metal detector. Weeks before the stabbing, hospital staff raised concerns about Tortolero Arriechi, who had allegedly threatened several employees, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

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There were complaints about cutting back on on law enforcement...

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The San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association says it warned such a tragedy would happen when the health department cut deputy positions at the hospital.

“This was not a random, unforeseeable incident,” said DSA President Ken Lomba in a statement. “Deputies, nurses, and social workers told DPH that pulling deputies off high-risk units/posts and replacing them with unarmed cadets and distant response teams would get someone seriously hurt or killed. On December 4, that prediction came true.”

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