A patient at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics has been accused of causing harm to health-care providers.

Joshua Lawson, 28, Fairfax, Iowa, was charged June 29 with two counts of assault on a health-care provider.

According to a UI police complaint, Lawson was being treated at the UIHC when he allegedly threatened staff members and said he would come back with a gun and shoot them.

The complaint alleges that Lawson spit in the face of a nurse and bit the hand of a doctor, leaving teeth marks, red whelps, and a small laceration on the hand.

Lawson also allegedly caused scratch marks on the arm of another health-care provider. All of the alleged assaults were reported to the police as being offensive and causing pain and discomfort to persons sustaining bodily injury, the complaint said.

Assault on a health-care provider is considered a serious misdemeanor.

— by Amy Skarnulis