SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The husband of a social worker who was fatally stabbed at San Francisco General Hospital’s HIV clinic last year has filed a wrongful death claim against the city of San Francisco, alleging officials failed to take steps to protect health care workers.

It has been nearly six months since Alberto Rangel, 51, a social worker with the University of California, San Francisco, was attacked while working at the clinic.

Officials said 34-year-old Wilfredo Jose Tortolero Arriechi, a patient at the clinic, entered the facility carrying a kitchen knife on Dec. 4. According to authorities, Rangel tried to calm him down and escort him out before Arriechi allegedly attacked him with the knife.

Rangel died two days later.

Nick Casper, an attorney representing Rangel’s husband, Stuart Moulder, said the tragedy was preventable.

“The violent nature of Alberto’s death was particularly traumatic,” Casper said. “Him and Alberto were as close and loving of a couple as you could imagine. Mr. Moulder has described his own situation as feeling like he has been broken into a million little pieces. This was a tragedy that was entirely foreseeable.”

An internal audit showed clinic staff had expressed concerns about Arriechi’s behavior before the incident and brought those concerns to supervisors, but no changes were made.

Additional security measures were implemented after the attack.

“Those changes were things that their own workers were requesting for years. Things like single-point entry, weapons screening, and if those basic security measures had been implemented at the time, Alberto would still be alive today,” Casper said.

The Department of Public Health has committed $15 million annually to advance security measures.

However, UPTE Executive Vice President Matias Campos said more needs to be done, particularly by UCSF.

“The short answer is no. It has not been enough,” Campos said. “There will need to be significantly more investments in staffing, in addressing the recruitment and retention problems that we believe were a substantial part that led to this issue.”

In response to the claim, the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office said, “Mr. Rangel’s death is a tragedy, and our thoughts are with his loved ones. We will review the claim and respond to the claimant in a timely manner.”

San Francisco officials have 45 days to respond before Moulder and his attorney can file a lawsuit.

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