Woman Jailed After ER Nurse Attacked Over Pain Medication

HARKER HEIGHTS, Texas – A Harker Heights woman was in the Bell County Jail Thursday after an emergency room nurse was struck in the face by a patient who was upset because she wasn’t given the pain medication she wanted.

Jacqueline Michelle Ziegler, 33, who shows an address on Bluebird Lane, in Harker Heights, was ordered held in lieu of $100,000 bond charged with assault on emergency medical services personnel, according to the online Bell County Jail roster.

An affidavit issued in connection with the incident says Harker Heights police were sent Monday to the emergency room at Seton Medical Center Harker Heights in response to a report of the assault.

The patient was unhappy because she was not given any medication for pain, the affidavit says.

The nurse, after checking the patient’s records, learned she already had been given a prescription this month for Vicodin and refused to order any more medication.

The nurse told police she also learned the patient had taken Percocet, which had not been prescribed to her.

Both Vicodin and Percocet are opioids and are powerful pain relievers that are frequently abused, which is why both are listed as Schedule II narcotics and are closely monitored when administered.

When the nurse explained to the patient she would not be given any additional medication and handed her a clipboard so she could sign her dismissal form, the patient used the clipboard to strike the nurse in the face, the affidavit says.

When police interviewed the patient, she admitted striking the nurse, according to the affidavit.

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