Local leaders say the threat of Mediare stopping payments to Wilkes Regional Medical Center over the use of ttasers by law enforcement personnel in the hospital's emergency room is likely to be hollow. A ad in the Winston-Salem Jornal this weekend prompted some surprise, according to Wilkes Regional president Ted Chapin, who said that the hospital has been following procedure in handling the situation, and he doesn’t understand why the agency published a legal notice announcing the anticipated action.
As we've previously reported on 3WC, Tasers were used in the hospital ER twice this summer:
On June 28, a Highway Patrol trooper arrested a man on a charge of driving while impaired and brought him to the emergency room. The man attacked the trooper in the emergency room, and the trooper fired the Taser to protect himself.
On September 6th, a sheriff’s deputy used a Taser on a man who had been brought into the emergency room for an involuntary psychiatric commitment. The patient had grabbed a nurse and pinned her against a wall. Sheriff Dane Mastin said that no one with Medicare has checked with his office about what happened in the incident involving the deputy. He said that the officer acted properly.

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