Just last week a transplant surgeon, Dmitriy Nikitin, MD, was shot and killed in the parking lot of Florida Hospital in Orlando by a disgruntled patient who then turned the gun on himself. And last September, the son of an elderly patient shot a physician, his mother and himself at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. The physician survived, according to the report.
Since 2007, 110 instances of assaults, rapes or homicides have been reported at hospitals, according to the Joint Commission.
Russell Colling, a Colorado-based healthcare security consultant, said in the report that patients are beginning to target physicians more than was ever seen in the past.
Although hospitals today are fairly open, recent violence may suggest greater security measures are needed. For example, following the shooting at Johns Hopkins, the hospital’s security staff began conducting searches and using metal-detecting wands in the hospital’s emergency department, according to the report.
Read the Los Angeles Times report on hospital violence.
Related Articles on Hospital Violence:
Hospitals Oppose California Bill to Tighten Security
Hospitals Not Providing Enough Protection Against Attacks on Staff
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