After ‘horrific’ rape at Boston Medical Center, councilor pushes for security review

A city councilor is calling for a review of hospital security plans after a mentally ill man allegedly raped a paralyzed patient at Boston Medical Center.

Boston man Barry Howze, a schizophrenic patient, allegedly evaded hospital staff and then raped the paralyzed woman in her hospital bed.

The 55-year-old man this week was arraigned on charges for allegedly sexually assaulting the fellow patient at the Boston Medical Center emergency room.

City Councilor Ed Flynn is now pushing the Boston Public Health Commission to take action in the wake of this incident — along with a recent stabbing at BMC.

“It is unconscionable that a horrific and violent sexual assault took place on a defenseless patient,” Flynn wrote to the Boston Public Health Commission’s executive director on Thursday.

“The safety and security of patients and staff at the hospital must come before all else, and cannot be ignored any longer,” the councilor added.

He’s requesting that BPHC “provide leadership in security affairs” with hospitals in the city.

“In my opinion, the BPHC should establish a committee that would provide an independent review of security plans at every Boston hospital and healthcare facility to ensure the safety and security of all patients and staff,” Flynn wrote.

“At this time, it is critical that the city works with hospital leadership to make immediate changes and upgrades to their security department to prevent similarly unsettling incidents from ever taking place again,” he added.

Back in mid-September at BMC, the alleged victim was admitted to the ER for post-surgical complications and pneumonia. She had developed partial paralysis on the left side of her body. Once in the ER, she was administered pain medication and placed in a hospital bay alone.

Meanwhile, Howze was admitted to the hospital on a Section 12 psychiatric hold. Hospital staff was supposed to be with him at all times.

However, he was able to escape the psychiatric hold and freely roamed the hospital’s halls, prosecutors said.

Howze can be seen on video walking into the woman’s hospital bay, which was secured by curtains. Howze and the alleged victim did not know each other.

The woman initially thought that he might be a hospital employee, but saw that he was wearing a patient medical bracelet. She asked him, “You good?” and he said yes, and looked out of the curtain into the hallway.

He then allegedly took the call button from her hand and placed it on the ground, out of her reach, and said, “If they find me, they’ll find you,” while making a shushing motion.

Due to her paralysis, she couldn’t reach her phone under her body.

Howze allegedly slid off the chair, onto the floor, and under the woman’s bed. He allegedly grabbed her right thigh.

“She was terrified… she couldn’t defend herself,” Suffolk prosecutor Kate Fraiman said during Monday’s arraignment. “She was in an extremely vulnerable state.”

The woman started trying to remove monitors from her body, in hopes that the machines would start beeping and get the attention of staff.

Once under the bed, Howze allegedly reached his hand out of the left side of the bed, and reached under her hospital briefs. She couldn’t turn away because of her paralysis.

With his fingers, he allegedly sexually assaulted her.

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Howze is facing two counts of rape, one count of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14, one count of assault and battery on a person with a disability and one count of witness intimidation.

The Boston judge declared Howze dangerous and ordered him held without bail on Monday.

 

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