With workplace shootings on the rise, a Kentucky hospital took seriously violent threats made by an angry orthopedic surgeon last week. According to Outpatient Surgery magazine, surgeon Ted Jefferson, DO was arrested for disorderly conduct and terrorist threats after threatening to use an assault rifle on administrators.
Jefferson was reportedly outraged that surgical supplies were not properly sterilized. A concerned nurse told administrators that the surgeon was having a “meltdown” and was overhead saying, "I guess administration will be happy if I come in here with an assault rifle."
Administrators approached Jefferson about the comment and his behavior and had him cool off for 30 minutes before returning to surgery. When he returned, he berated the surgical team for telling on him and demanded to know who the “weasel” was who complained to administration.
Hospital administrators confronted him a second time and Jefferson became irate and made another threat about using an assault rifle at some point in the future and “not knowing when”. The hospital suspended Jefferson for 72 hours and had security remove him from the hospital.
The next day at 3:18 a.m. police found Jefferson in his car in the hospital parking lot. He claimed he was there to email administrators. Police arrested him and reported hearing him say "the only way to get anything done is to go home and get a pistol or a rifle."
Shortly after his arrest, Jefferson was released on bond. His attorney told a local TV reporter that the doctor may sue the hospital.
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