Two healthcare workers are recovering after being violently attacked by a patient at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, North Carolina.

The incident occurred in the hospital’s emergency department when Rothwell Jacob Simmons, 24, allegedly pushed the first victim to the ground and choked her until she fell unconscious. He then tried to strangle and snap the second victim’s neck. The first victim reportedly sustained internal injuries, while the second was left with neck injuries and contusions.

Simmons appeared in court Wednesday where he was charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault by strangulation. His bond was set at $7.5 million, according to Star-News.

Novant Health, the parent company of the hospital, confirmed the incident took place but would not disclose the extent of both womens’ injuries. "At this time, we can confirm that two team members were injured Tuesday afternoon by an individual inside of NHRMC’s emergency department. I cannot tell you the extent of the injuries at this time. Our first concern is for the employees and their families,” said a spokesperson in a statement.

The spokesperson added that NHRMC company police are investigating the incident.

When asked in court if he wanted to hire his own attorney, Simmons told the judge, “I’m not sure man, I don’t know what the hell got into me.”

An attorney was appointed for Simmons. He is due to appear in court again on February 3, according to NBC-affiliate, WECT/Channel 6 News.

Additionally, the judge ordered that Simmons’ bond remain at $7.5 million, in accordance with laws passed in 2015 and 2019 to protect healthcare workers. District Attorney Ben David says the laws reflect the potential physical harm that hospital workers face in their work environment. “They work in a dynamic environment and sometimes they are subjected to real harm, and not just from airborne illness like we’re all experiencing right now with COVID, but sometimes with assaultive conduct. When that happens, it has the highest priority in my office. These people really put their lives on the line, we should remember that.”

Violence against healthcare workers is considered a rising epidemic, with federal data saying that healthcare workers are nine times more likely to be a victim of intentional workplace violence than employees in other industries.

An attack last year by a psychiatric patient at Pennsylvania Hospital left a female physician with multiple stab wounds to her head and face after she informed him that he would not be discharged. She said that ten colleagues watched the attack but did not alert hospital security or appear to know how to respond, and that no guards or panic buttons were present.

She later sued the hospital on the grounds that its “abject disregard” for employee safety led to the incident and said that it did not improve security after the incident despite concerns raised by residents and employees.

Spikes in COVID-19 have also made situations like this more prevalent, with Scripps Health staff saying that they have experienced 17% more verbal and physical acts of violence from patients in the past few months as a result of patient frustration with the progress made toward eradicating the virus.

To protect its staff, Cox Medical Center Branson in Missouri equipped 400 of them with panic buttons back in September. A worker can simply click the button to activate a tracing system that notifies and allows security to track and get to the exact location of the worker.

“When Public Safety response is critical and it’s not possible to get to a phone, personal panic buttons fill a critical void,” said Alan Butler, who manages public safety efforts at CoxHealth’s six hospitals and more than 80 clinics.