PHILADELPHIA — When Alex Zachariah went to work at Norristown State Hospital one afternoon in May 2021, he noticed one of the patients struggling.
“He was limping and grimacing in pain,” Zachariah said. Growing concerned, he asked a few of the other patients what was wrong with the frail young man, whom Zachariah described as barely verbal. Eventually, he said, they told him the story. “They said this guy was standing in the medication line, and he had in his hand a Styrofoam cup of Ensure. And his hand was trembling violently, and he spilled some Ensure onto the shirt of one of the guards — and this guard picked him up and slammed him to the floor,” Zachariah said. “That’s what they told me.”
Zachariah said he knew patients at the institution were not always reliable witnesses. But he was concerned enough to email hospital administrators, urging them to check the surveillance camera.
