‘TERRIFIED AND SHOCKED’

Patient Attacks Pregnant Florida Nurse, Killing Unborn Baby: Police

“There is a mental health component at play here,” an assistant state attorney told a judge after the patient’s arrest.

A man has been arrested in Central Florida after attacking a pregnant nurse, causing her to lose her unborn child, Longwood police allege. The nurse, more than 32 weeks pregnant, was administering medicine to another patient on Oct. 30 when Joseph Wuerz, 53, entered the room and allegedly shoved her against the wall. He attempted to kick her before being restrained by security officers, police said. According to an arrest report, none of the kicks landed but the nurse told police she was “terrified and shocked and unsure about injury… to the unborn child.”

After a visit to another hospital confirmed the baby had died, police arrested Wuerz on charges of homicide of an unborn child, aggravated battery on a first responder, and aggravated battery on a pregnant victim. “There is a mental health component at play here,” an assistant state attorney told a judge in court. Wuerz was being held at the hospital on Saturday under a Florida law that allows people with mental illnesses to be committed to a facility for up to 72 hours.