Board sides with doctor who cited ‘stand your ground’ law after striking combative patient

The Iowa Board of Medicine has dismissed disciplinary charges against a physician who argued Iowa’s “stand your ground” law protected him from sanctions for physically striking a handcuffed, combative patient.

State records indicate Dr. Curtis Waite, who practices emergency medicine, was working in the emergency room at Mary Greeley Hospital in Ames the night of Nov. 14, 2023, when police brought in a suspect, who appeared to be experiencing some form of psychosis, for treatment of head lacerations.

The patient had allegedly assaulted several people, then attempted to take a police officer’s gun, and then threatened a paramedic who had to pin the man against the wall at the hospital using a wheelchair, according to the board.

State records indicate that shortly after Waite entered the treatment room where the patient was lying in bed with his hands cuffed behind his back, the patient spit blood in Waite’s face and then kicked him in the head. The Board of Medicine says that according to the “several” police officers who were in the room at the time, Waite responded to the attack by striking the patient in the head three or four times.

The Board of Medicine quotes Waite explaining his actions by stating, “I was stunned, saw stars and instructively reacted.”

Waite left the room and the patient was treated by other hospital staff before being charged by police with assaulting Waite. According to the board, Mary Greeley Hospital placed Waite on leave after the incident, but he eventually returned to work with the understanding that he’d undergo an evaluation and submit to a monitoring program.

In July 2025, the Board of Medicine charged Waite with one count of unprofessional conduct. Waite then sought a dismissal of the charge, arguing Iowa’s “stand your ground” law allows individuals to use reasonable force against others to defend themselves against the use of unlawful force.

Lawyers for the state argued the law could not be used to redefine the standard of care that’s expected of physicians dealing with combative and unruly patients. Waite could have stepped back, the state argued, and his failure to do so amounted to an ethical decision that warranted some form of sanction.

If Waite was unable to control himself in a heated situation in which he was being assaulted, he might not have the capacity to work in emergency medicine, the state argued.

In deciding to dismiss the charge against Waite, the board noted that it was not going to address the question of whether the stand-your-ground law applied to the case at hand. Instead, the board said, it was going to examine the underlying question of whether Waite’s actions violated the professional standards to which Iowa physicians are held.

“Dr. Waite had been subject to (the patient) spitting in his mouth and Dr. Waite had just been kicked in the head with some force,” the board stated in its decision. “It is reasonable to believe Dr. Waite was facing further imminent harm from (the patient) whose legs remained unrestrained … Given Dr. Waite’s location in a corner between the bed and a chair, he could not have withdrawn without risking further strikes by (the patient). The board finds a physician is not required to stand by and accept serious injury or death to avoid touching the patient that is actively assaulting him.”

The board noted that it appeared the patient was not injured by Waite’s punches as they were delivered with limited force. “In other words, these were not proverbial ‘haymaker’ punches,” the board stated.

While physically striking a patient is “not normally considered within the bounds of professional behavior, given the totality of the circumstances here, Dr. Waite’s actions do not rise to the level of unprofessional conduct,” the board ruled.

The Iowa Capital Dispatch was not able to reach Waite or his attorney for comment on the case.