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Police: Patient intentionally lit bed sheet on fire at Bryan hospital

Posted at 12:52 PM, Dec 03, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-03 13:52:32-05

Police arrested a patient at the CHI St. Joseph Regional Health Care Center in Bryan after she intentionally set a fire in her room on Sunday.

Nurses told police 54-year-old Wendy Eilers had her door closed and came over the intercom and said "fire." One nurse went to her room and could immediately smell the fire. 

According to the arrest affidavit, the nurse rushed into the room and saw Eilers' bed sheet at the foot of her bed on fire, and she was sitting calmly in her bed. A red lighter was seen sitting on the bedside table.

The nurse asked Eilers what happened, and she replied, "I did it because you were holding me against my will."

A second nurse came into the room and helped move the patient into a wheelchair. After moving her out of the room, the nurse used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire.

The entire floor of the Oncology Wing was evacuated.

As a hospital employee sat with Eilers waiting for police, he said she told him she was worried about the fire she started.

When officers arrived, the fire had already been put out. Police asked Eilers for her phone number, and she told them she burned it with the mattress.

She then told police she burned the bed sheets "because the nurses were ignoring her."

Eilers was brought to the Brazos County Jail and charged with arson. Her bond has not yet been set.

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