'She Didn't Deserve This': NY Patient Waiting for Liver Treatment is Brutally Beaten to Death in Hospital Bed by Roommate

For 55-year-old Cynthia Vann, Lincoln Hospital was supposed to be a place of healing. But the sanctuary of her hospital room was brutally violated when she was attacked in her sleep , allegedly by a roommate her family says had a known history of violence.

Now, instead of planning for what would have been her 56th birthday, her family is mourning a death that has been ruled a homicide and demanding answers about how a place of care could become the scene of such horrific violence.

Two Brutal Killings, One Disturbing Pattern

A horrifying trend is emerging in New York's care facilities, where the city's most vulnerable are being attacked not by outsiders, but by those in the next bed. Within the space of a few days, two separate women were brutally killed by their roommates, raising urgent questions about patient safety in the very places meant to provide sanctuary.

The latest victim was Cynthia Vann, a 55-year-old patient at a Bronx hospital who was fatally assaulted while sleeping in her room.

Her death came just days after Nina Kravtsov, an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor, was bludgeoned to death in a Coney Island nursing home, allegedly by her 95-year-old roommate who used a metal pedal from a wheelchair as a weapon.

In both instances, families have been left heartbroken and searching for answers as to how such violence could occur in a supervised environment.

'She Didn't Deserve This': A Daughter's Grief in the Bronx

Cynthia Vann was at Lincoln Hospital in Mott Haven for liver treatment when the attack happened on 10 September. She sustained severe brain injuries and, after a two-week fight for her life, succumbed on 27 September. The medical examiner has since ruled her death a homicide caused by blunt force injuries to the head.

'It's heartbreaking. I'm broken inside. My mom was my support system. She was really all I had. She didn't deserve this. No one deserves to be assaulted at a hospital while you're sleeping. You're supposed to feel safe,' Vann's devastated daughter, Taneisha Vann, told News 12.

A Question of Negligence: Was a Known Danger Ignored?

For the Vann family, grief is compounded by anger. Taneisha Vann claims the hospital informed her that the unidentified roommate who attacked her mother had a documented history of violent conduct.

She is now accusing the medical centre of gross negligence, saying: 'I'm angry with the hospital that allowed this situation to happen.'

As one family prepares for a birthday their mother will never see, and another mourns a woman who survived the Holocaust only to be killed in her bed, both incidents highlight a terrifying vulnerability.

They leave a chilling question in their wake: are New York's most fragile citizens being protected, or are they being housed with the very dangers they should be protected from?

The deaths of Cynthia Vann and Nina Kravtsov are more than individual tragedies; they are alarming indicators of potential systemic failures in facilities entrusted with caring for New York's most vulnerable citizens. As two families seek justice, the incidents raise urgent questions about patient safety and whether these institutions are failing in their most basic duty of care.

For continued coverage on this developing story and issues of patient safety, follow IBTimes UK.