DUDLEY, MA (WBZ/CNN) - Elise Wilson knows she could have lost her life when a patient repeatedly attacked the emergency room nurse with a knife in a random assault on June 14.
"He just, all of a sudden swung at me and punched me in the head. When I turned back to look at him again, he was standing over me and he had a knife in his hand, then he had it raised over his head,” Wilson said. “Next thing I knew, he had stabbed me in the neck on this side."
Not just in the neck, but deep wounds to her arm as she tried to defend herself, severing nerves and leaving her with limited mobility.
"I lost out on finishing my career the way I wanted to. I've lost out on months and months of my life," Wilson said.
She's behind a bill now known as Elise's Law.
It sent her husband Clifton Wilson to the statehouse Wednesday. He testified that healthcare employers should be required to put safety plans in place for their workers.
Elise Wilson's employer, Harrington Hospital has installed metal detectors within the last few weeks, already confiscating nearly a dozen knives.
Nurses now have panic buttons, and Wilson hopes it can be a model.
"He came in speaking to me, having a normal conversation and it changed like that and that's how it can change," Wilson said.
She doesn't know if she'll ever be able to return to nursing, but if the day comes, she hopes it's under a new law.
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