Man accused of assaulting nurse details history of conflicts with healthcare workers

The man accused of assaulting two nurses at a Moncton hospital last year testified Thursday he felt he knew how to care for his ailing wife better than medical staff and had previous confrontations with healthcare workers.

Bruce (Randy) Van Horlick, 70, of Acadieville,pleaded not guilty totwo counts of assault causing bodily harm for the alleged attacks on Natasha Poirier and Teresa Thibeault on March 11, 2019.

Van Horlick testified that he was upset with nursing staff at theDr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centreover the care his wife was receiving and went to confront a supervising nurse.

Van Horlick said his wife had seriousmedical conditions, including seizurestriggered by stress. She had been in the Dumont for several days because her arm had swollen. She was put on antibiotics, but he said he warned doctors and nurses it wouldn't be effective.

He said she suffered agrand mal seizure at the hospital.After several days, she underwent surgery and she was moved to a semi-private recovery room down a hallway from a nurses station. She then had anothergrand mal seizure.

Internet research

Van Horlick said nurses rushed into the room, one with a needle to inject his wife with more medication. He told the nurses he may not allow the injection. He said he knew what kind of treatments his wife needs because he has done research on the internet.

Staff wanted to move his wife to a room close to the nursing station to keep an eye on her. He refused, saying "it was all about the nurses, not my wife." He agreed when he said they promised to move her back at a later point.

"I always try to keep peace with people," Van Horlick said."Stupid me, I trusted the nurses to keep their word."

Later, he testified he regrets to this day agreeing to the move.

He testified that he objected to the move because the room his wife had been in was quiet, away from the busy nursing station and that allowed her to rest.

He said she couldn't sleep once moved because a person in another room was constantly yelling. He said his wife had another seizure and he spent the nightholding her hand.

Asked what he was thinking at that point, he said that without a change "it could trigger another seizure, and it could be deadly right then and there."

We have a really major problem that needs to be fixed right now.- Randy Van Horlick

The next morning, March 11,he testified that his wife woke up and asked if she was going to be moved. He went to check her old room but found another person was there. He said hedemanded to speak to the nurse supervising the floor. He said he knocked on the nurse's office and she invited him to sit down.

"We have a really major problem that needs to be fixed right now," he recalled telling the nurse in what he described as an "elevated" tone.

He said the nurse firmly told him to "get out."

"That was the only words she said to me. 'Get out.'"

He said by that point he was tired and extremely stressed from what was happening to his wife, and said he blacked out and couldn't recall what happened next.

He said the next thing he remembers is being pulled by two men and a loud pitched noise that made him cover his ears.

"I think they said 'you're not supposed to hurt a nurse.' I said 'What? I don't comprehend what you're talking about.'"

Poirier, the nurse Van Horlick allegedly assaulted, testified at an earlier portion of the trial that the mantold hershe had three seconds to do something about the room change. She said he grabbed her by her hair, thenby the arm and twisted her fingers backward.

She said she was hit on the left temple at least six times and then stopped counting, fell to the floor and may have lost consciousness.

Van Horlick testified he had "no knowledge" of whether he warned Poirier about having three seconds to make a decision and didn't recall hitting her.

"I'm not normally an angry person," Van Horlick testified, before saying under cross-examination by Crown prosecutor Marie-Andre Mallet that he hadpreviously yelled at various health care workers.

Previous incidents

Mallet askedif he had "incidents" prior to his arrest withnursing staff. Van Horlick replied "define incidents."

Mallet asked if there had been "conflicts."

"Oh yes," he responded.

He toldthe court his wife was receiving care through the Extra-Mural program, which sees health care workers visit patients at home, several years beforethe incident at the Dumont. He said his wife joked she was in so much pain,"just take me out and shoot me."

He said he'd tell his wife that he only had one bullet, so they'd have to get "everyone" together. The comments were reported by an Extra-Mural nurse, and he said he was "confronted" by an Extra-Mural supervisor and told he can't say things like that.

Van Horlick testified that he told them to "get out before I say or do something I might regret,"later adding he was likely screaming.

Asked if he was threatening, he said"I hope so, because I meant it."

Van Horlick testified after his arrest last year, he had to agree to not go to the Dumont. That meant his wife received care at the Moncton Hospital.Van Horlick told Judge Yvette Finnthat he was under "restrictions" that included having a security guard follow him around that facility.

He said there was another incident at that hospital after his wife was sent to psychiatric ward while he wasn't in the building. When he found out, he was angrybut added "I never hurt anyone."

"Believe me, I have more than enough cause to do it," he said.

Van Horlick's wife died last December.

The trial continues June 4 at 9:30 a.m. with another defence witness.

Gorham told the judge thewitness is a doctor who will describe what happened to Van Horlickduring the alleged assault at the Dumont as "more or less likely" to be a dissociative state.