A patient who attacked a doctor and threw a shoe at him has been jailed for four months.
The emergency registrar was struck repeatedly as he attempted to restrain 37-year-old Peter Quinn at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.
Quinn, of Antrim Road in the city, claimed he had drunk a bottle of vodka and remembered nothing about his violent outburst.
District Judge Liam McNally told him: "When I picture the scene in the hospital and you thumping the doctor tasked to assist you three or four times, the issue of deterrence takes precedent."
Belfast Magistrates' Court heard that Quinn became abusive and aggressive at the Royal in the early hours of November 2 last year.
As the doctor tried to help control him on the ward, he was struck number of times.
"The defendant then removed his shoe and intentionally threw it at the injured party, causing him to move to avoid being hit," a prosecution lawyer said.
Police who arrested Quinn described him as unsteady and incoherent.
Defence solicitor Cathy Mulhern said her client accepted his behaviour was inexcusable.
"He's deeply embarrassed and ashamed," she said.
Ms Mulhern detailed Quinn's history of alcoholism, adding that he has now completed a detoxification programme and been dry for seven months.
The defendant, who has 57 previous offences, was convicted of common assault.
Despite expressing sympathy for efforts to deal with his addiction, Mr McNally said "anyone who assaults a doctor in the course of being treated in hospital must expect to be dealt with harshly".
Imposing three months for the attack, the judge added on a further month from a previously suspended term.
Quinn was released on bail pending an appeal against the sentence.
