Health system fires ER technician charged for alleged role in assault of gay couple

The Abington Health System hospital where one of three suspects in the assault of a gay couple in Philadelphia has worked has fired her just one day after suspending her, according to press reports.

Although Kathryn Knott’s lawyer Louis Busico has said she did not hit the victims, who each suffered facial fractures, her tweets referencing her hospital patients in an unflattering way have generated a lot of attention. The hospital had said in a statement on Wednesday that it was looking at whether she had violated the hospital’s social media policy.

Among the press citing a statement from the hospital was 6ABC. It said:

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“Effective today, September 25, 2014, Kathryn Knott has been terminated from her employment at Abington Health.”

The hospital had said in a statement Wednesday:

“Abington Health takes patient privacy and confidentiality very seriously and is fully investigating this matter.”

In addition to the charges, tweets from Kathryn Knott’s Twitter account highlighted references to her patients at the hospital, and in some cases included images of patient X-rays and in one case, fingers on ice. These tweets may never have been brought to light had she not been charged as a suspect. Although it’s an impossible task to track the Twitter handles of employees — this case will surely prompt hospitals to remind employees to treat their patients with respect and not to bitch about them on social media. Here’s a sample of Knott’s tweets.