Fatal stabbing leads to fines at SF hospital

SAN FRANCISCO – Cal/OSHA is fining Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and the University of California San Francisco for violations of worker safety laws in connection to an employee’s deadly stabbing last year. 

Hospital fined

What we know:

A social worker died after being stabbed by a patient last December at the hospital’s Ward 86 HIV care clinic. 

KTVU has obtained the citation documents that show Cal/OSHA found that the hospital lacked adequate protections to identify, investigate and manage potentially dangerous patients and proposed more than $130,000 in fines. Cal/OSHA found seven violations, including six serious citations at the hospital. 

The occupational and safety health division also cited UCSF for lacking an effective workplace violence prevention plan with fines of nearly $143,000. Cal/OSHA found UCSF had eight violations and seven serious citations. 

“A social worker at ZSFG (Zuckerberg SF General) was stabbed multiple times by a patient with a knife,” a spokesperson for Cal/OSHA’s statement read. “The social worker, an employee of the Regents of the University of California–San Francisco (UCSF), died of injuries two days later. UCSF’s physicians and other medical professionals provide some of the medical care at ZSFG.”

Cal/OSHA said their workplace violence prevention protocol for healthcare facilities has been in place since 2017. 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – MAY 16: A view of the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center on May 16, 2018 in San Francisco, California. In the wake of widespread data breaches at Facebook, patients and nurses at Zuckerberg San Francisco G

The backstory:

Alberto Rangel, 51, was stabbed and killed on Dec. 9, 2025 at the hospital by a suspect, identified as Wilfredo Tortolero-Arreichi, 35. 

Police said Tortolero-Arreichi was walking with the social worker toward an elevator when the suspect grabbed the victim from behind and stabbed him numerous times in the neck. Rangel died at the hospital two days later. 

Remembering the victim 

Rangel was described by colleagues as someone who treated everyone with love and absolute care and as someone who went above and beyond for his colleagues and patients. He ran support groups in English and Spanish. 

Outside of work, he was remembered as an artist, an athlete and for his sense of humor and sharp fashion sense. 

Activists demanded safety accountability at the hospital in the aftermath of Rangel’s fatal stabbing. 

In December, Tortolero-Arreichi, failed to appear in court as the defendant when he was still locked up in a hospital psychiatric ward. 

Tortolero-Arreichi remains in custody at the San Francisco County Jail. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, it has requested San Francisco to honor an immigration detainer against the suspect once he has been tried and serves any potential sentence. ICE said the suspect is an illegal immigrant from Venezuela with a criminal record.