A 26-year-old patient who assaulted a nurse at Whidbey General Hospital last month is facing a felony charge.

Prosecutors charged Ara J. Badayos in Island County Superior Court Nov. 28 with third-degree assault.

Badayos is accused of assaulting a nurse or health care provider while he or she was performing her duties.

Island County Sheriff’s Deputy David Dennis investigated the case. He wrote in his report that Badayos had been admitted to the hospital on Nov. 24.

Witnesses said she came out of her room and walked across to the nurse’s station, ignoring the nurses’ commands that she return to her room. She went behind the nurses’ station and attacked a nurse, hitting her multiple times in the face, according the deputy’s report.

The deputy observed that the nurse had swelling and red marks on both sides of her face, blood around an eye and blood around her mouth.

Badayos told the deputy that she tried to beat the nurse because she didn’t like the way the woman had been looking at her and telling her what to do, the report states.

If convicted of the charge, Badayos could face up to eight months in jail.