Man Accused of Strangling ER Nurse With Stethoscope at New York Hospital

Image source: Auburn Community Hospital

An Auburn, New York, man is facing felony charges after police say he strangled a nurse with a stethoscope in the emergency department at Auburn Community Hospital.

Auburn Police responded to the hospital’s emergency department around 10 a.m. on September 22 for a reported assault on nursing staff, according to a police media release. Investigators say Christopher B. Titus lunged at a registered nurse in the emergency department, grabbed both ends of the stethoscope hanging around the nurse’s neck, crossed it in front of the nurse’s throat, and applied pressure, making it difficult for the nurse to breathe.

After several seconds, the nurse was able to get their hands underneath the stethoscope, relieve the pressure, and break free, according to police. Titus allegedly left the hospital before officers arrived. Police located and took him into custody on September 23.

Want to see more Nurse.org articles in your Google results? Add us as a preferred source.

According to police, Titus was charged with:

• Second-degree strangulation, a Class D felony
• Attempted second-degree assault, a Class E felony
• Third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a Class D felony

He was arraigned in Auburn City Court and remanded to the Cayuga County Jail. Police have not said whether he was a patient or a visitor at the hospital.

Police did not identify the nurse.

In Nurse.org’s 2026 State of Nursing Survey, 51% of ER nurses said they had been physically assaulted at work in the past year, nearly twice the rate for nurses overall (27%). ER nurses also reported the highest rate of verbal threats of any specialty, at 84%, and 69% said they do not feel safe from violence at work.

Nurse.org has reported other similar attacks on nurses, including one in which a nurse was strangled with a medical cord at a Sutter Health hospital in California, and another with an ankle-monitor charging cord in Florida.

>>Listen to The Latest Nurse News Podcast

New York is one of 22 states where Nurse.org’s Nurse Safety Laws review of all 50 states and Washington, DC, found that assaulting a nurse can become a felony under certain conditions. In New York, that condition is injury: causing physical injury to a nurse, with intent to prevent the nurse from performing their duties, is second-degree assault, a felony. One of the charges Titus faces is attempted second-degree assault, but police have not said whether it was brought under that nurse-specific provision or another part of the law.

New York’s new law requiring hospitals and nursing homes to create workplace violence prevention programs took effect on September 18, four days before the attack. Hospitals have until September 2027 to establish those programs. New York also protects covered healthcare workers from retaliation for reporting certain employer practices they reasonably believe violate workplace-safety laws.

Being attacked while caring for patients is never part of the job. No nurse should have to fight for breath to finish a shift, in Auburn or anywhere else.

More from Nurse Safety Laws:

🤔 Have you ever had equipment you wear used against you on the job? Share your thoughts in the comments below.