A HOSPITAL patient who punched a nurse in the face when he was receiving treatment after suffering an epileptic seizure has narrowly avoided a prison sentence.

Matthew Chown was told it was the fact the court accepted his version of events that his 16-week prison sentence would not start immediately.

A hearing to determine the facts of the case was dropped after the victim said ‘his time would be better spent treating patients’, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The 23-year-old was taken to James Cook University Hospital for treatment after his father discovered him suffering a seizure in their Middlesbrough home last October.

Nigel Soppitt, prosecuting, said the defendant woke up when the male nurse was attempting to take his bloods and he lashed out, punching the man in the face.

In a victim impact statement, the man said: "This is the first time in James Cook University Hospital that I have been assaulted by a patient.

"It is disappointing that I am trying to do my job and this person assaulted me which he had no right to do."

Mr Soppitt said the defendant accepted that his actions were reckless on the night he was being treated in the accident and emergency department at the hospital.

The court heard how Chown told police officers that he had not slept for three days and didn't know how he ended up in hospital.

Chown, of Chipchase Road, Middlesbrough, admitted assaulting an emergency worker following the incident on October 21 last year.

Gary Wood, in mitigation, told the court his client had no real recollection of the incident as a result of his seizure.

He said he accepts that he moved his arms 'quiet violently' and accepts it was a 'foolish and reckless thing to do'.

Recorder Toby Hedworth QC sentenced Chown to 16 weeks in custody, suspended for 18 months.

He said: "Any assault on a member of the emergency services who are going about their profession, at the most trying of times, they are required by the courts to be given protection and the best way they can do that is by taking a deterrent course when passing sentence.

"Yours, however, is a very unusual case because you maintain that having suffered an epileptic fit, you were not entirely or fully conscious at the time."

Chown was also sentenced to a 12-week curfew between 8pm and 7am.

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