claimed that Ms. Ford was intoxicated. She is often cited for her outrageous opinions such as her accusations about Tennessee nurses harming patients on a daily basis and doing things to her as a patient that "are so horrible you would not believe it". She made these accusations as a response to a 2012 proposal to increase penalties for assaults on healthcare workers. Ford argued patients are the ones who need protection from nurses. References External links State Senate page Opinion 5 of the Tennessee Attorney General's 2006 opinions http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060112/NEWS0201/601120389/1010/NEWS02 http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070321/NEWS0201/70321078/1001/NEWS African-American state legislators in Tennessee African-American women in politics Living people Democratic Party Tennessee state senators Women state legislators in Tennessee 1950 births Politicians from Memphis, Tennessee Tennessee State University alumni Ford family of Tennessee 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women