Syringe Attack Victim Speaks Out
A pediatric nurse who was the victim of a bizarre syringe attack outside a Bronx hospital on Friday is speaking out for the first time.
In an interview with the New York Post, 31-year-old Joy Schepis vowed to continue with her pregnancy despite fears the drug injected into her body might cause birth defects for her unborn child. ”I am having the baby. I don’t know what the effect of the (injected) medication will be. But the only power to take life, the only authority to take life, is God’s.”
Schepis’ married boyfriend, 44-year-old doctor Stephen Pack, is accused of pushing her to the ground outside Montefiore Hospital, shouting ”I’m giving you an abortion!” and injecting her with a fluid believed to be methotrexate. Methotrexate is a drug that can be used to induce labor or an abortion.
Schepis is six to eight weeks pregnant, according to authorities, who cited a seldom-used law to charge the doctor: abortion in the second degree. That law covers illegal attempts to cause an abortion.
Pack, who was arraigned Sunday, also faces charges of assault and criminal possession of a weapon. He is being held on $100,000 bail.
Pack’s attorney, Andrew Rubin, says his client made no attempt to escape or hide the needle. Rubin says Pack instead walked into the hospital next door to Montefiore, North Bronx Central, deposited the syringe in a copper medical waste receptacle, and waited for authorities.
Rubin also says Pack had recently been showing signs of depression.
Schepis suffered five stab wounds to the leg and one to the buttocks. She was treated at Montefiore and is now recovering at her home in suburban Westchester County, New York.
The doctor also lives in Westchester, in Chappaqua.
Schepis is undergoing treatment to try to counteract the effects of the injected drug on the fetus.
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