WEST HILLS : Man Charged With Battery in Assault on Physician
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A Canoga Park man has been charged with breaking an emergency room doctor’s jaw because the doctor gave the man’s girlfriend a rectal exam, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said Monday.
Michael Tipton, 24, pleaded not guilty to charges of battery with serious bodily injury and assault with great bodily injury, Deputy Dist. Atty. Herbert Lapin said.
The altercation with Dr. Edward Spitz occurred after Tipton and his 19-year-old girlfriend arrived at Humana Hospital-West Hills on the morning of Aug. 26, police said. The woman was complaining of abdominal pains. According to Lapin, Spitz, 44, performed his examinations with a female nurse present at all times--standard procedure when trying to determine the cause of abdominal pain.
An emergency room nurse told authorities that Tipton become upset after learning the details of the exam. Tipton walked into a cubicle where Spitz was treating another patient and struck the doctor with such force that the doctor sustained a concussion and later underwent surgery for a broken jaw, authorities said.
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