A True Medical Alert

swatsurgeon · 03-29-2008, 06:23

For those of us that work to save lives there is an inherent risk, especially in our world of Trauma. Patient and family satisfaction don't always add up to a positive number especially when we are held 'responsible' for a good outcome that may not happen. (can't make chicken soup out of chicken shit paradigm)

I have been stabbed in the leg, threatened that "if she dies doc, you die" (the brother of a patient driving drunk and hit a wall at 90mph and in coma), pushed around, punched and verbally abused. After the stabbing, I have been armed every day at work. Even in my neck of the woods, people come to our hospital with a grudge.

Be warned, be armed. The hospital police are for the most part out of shape, poor shots, never around and too far away. This is were I use my 'smart carry' holster, under scrubs or dress pants. Never un-armed in this environment and this article is one of many we read from around the country every week.

http://www.macon.com/220/story/306000.html

ss

swatsurgeon · 03-29-2008, 08:29

3 years after I left the last hospital trauma center I ran...this happened:

Officer Killed in Hospital ShootingFriday, September 30, 2005 | 6:44 PMSuspect in Custody LANGHORNE, Pa. (AP) -Sept. 30, 2005 -- Two neighboring police departments pitched in to patrol the streets of tiny Newtown Borough on Friday, a day after a hospital shooting left one of the borough's four officers dead and another wounded.

Officer Brian Steven Gregg, 46, was killed Thursday night after he and officer James Joseph Warunek, 31, scuffled with a drunken-driving suspect they had taken to St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, Bucks County, for routine blood and urine tests.
Police said the suspect, Robert A. Flor, 38, grabbed Warunek's gun and fired five shots, killing Gregg and wounding Warunek.

And 1 year ago, one of the hospitals dealing with victims of the VA tech shooting had a prisoner steal a sheriffs gun and shot a hospital security guard .

Not a safe place to work......

Surgicalcric · 03-29-2008, 09:21

DocT and I worked in a hospital in upstate SC where these were a near weekly ocurance. I cant recount the number of times someone made there way into the ER or the trauma bays carrying a firearm to finish off what they started, threaten the staff, or attempt to kill one or more of us for their loved one dying.

As you stated Sid, the security in hospitals for the most part was and still is useless. Its past time for us to become responsible for our own security instead of entrusting it to those who are no more capable than the average citizen.

Now if I could find a way to carry on the ambulance once I return home I would be in business...

Crip

**Team Sergeant** · 03-29-2008, 09:32

I remember Doc T being in the hospital with a prisoner on the loose..... found him in the air duct if I remember correctly. Stupid bastard watched too many hollywood movies.
I also remember Doc T having to run through a hail of sniper bullets to just to get to work one day.....or was that someone else?

Hospital security is what you pay for.....I'll take the job, at $500 a day

**Razor** · 03-29-2008, 11:51

SS, good job on recognizing a viable threat, and taking the steps necessary to be able to protect yourself instead of relying on others! The surgeon that tried to save the two girls killed in the New Life Church shooting came to the gun club of which I am a member a week after the shooting, bought a gun, and took the CCW course they offer. He said the incident made him realize how weak security can be (especially at his hospital), and wanted to be able to protect himself if need be.

Surgicalcric · 03-29-2008, 12:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team Sergeant

I remember Doc T being in the hospital with a prisoner on the loose..... found him in the air duct if I remember correctly...

I was there that day. He had a .22 pistol as well that security missed when he was brought in. I am not sure if they ever figured out where he got the gun (family or it was stashed in the ceiling tiles).

We had many colorful evening in that ER...and quite a few in the parking lot and on the EMS ramp as well. I seem to remember a guy making his way just inside the trauma OR #17 one night as Dr A was working on a shooting victim. He ended up with a fractured R/U, nose, and a few lacs while being kindly escorted back out of the OR by a paramedic I know.

He was transported to jail that night with a soft cast and several staples/stitches. The paramedic however was thanked by being asked to take several days off work to think about what he had done.

I hear it has gotten worse in the past couple years too.

Crip

Monsoon65 · 03-29-2008, 17:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Surgicalcric

The paramedic however was thanked by being asked to take several days off work to think about what he had done.

Let me guess: Without pay, right???

Never been an ER doc/medic (tho I've been mistaken for Anthony Edwards several times), but I've been an ER patient a lot. Some of those places can be pretty interesting to say the least.

**Team Sergeant** · 03-29-2008, 18:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Surgicalcric

I was there that day. He had a .22 pistol as well that security missed when he was brought in. I am not sure if they ever figured out where he got the gun (family or it was stashed in the ceiling tiles).

I hear it has gotten worse in the past couple years too.

Crip

It's gotten worse only because of the morons running that hospital.....

You should have been there the day "security" had Doc T's car towed for being parked in the "Law Enforcement Only" parking spot!

Head of hospital security was soon hiding in the same air duct
as the last bad guy.....

BTW Dr. A is doing well...