Last month, a visitor to the maternity department in an Oregon hospital caused a disturbance, prompting nurses to issue a warning that the guy might try to kidnap his partner’s unborn child.
A security guard was killed after the visitor opened fire hours later, sending patients, nurses, and medical staff running for shelter.
In the United States, hospitals and medical facilities have been hit by a surge of gun violence that has made it difficult for them to respond to the mounting dangers. The shooting at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Centre in Portland was one example of this.
Healthcare is now among the most violent industries in the country as a result of these assaults. According to data, American workers in the healthcare industry now experience more nonfatal injuries at work than those in any other industry, including law enforcement.
“Healthcare professionals don’t even consider that when deciding whether to pursue careers as nurses or doctors. However, in terms of real violence, health care is statistically four to five times riskier than any other profession, according to Michael D’Angelo, a former police officer and security consultant in Florida who specializes in health care and workplace violence.
Health care is outpaced by other industries in terms of overall risk, including fatalities.
Identical shootings have occurred in hospitals across the nation.
A guy shot and killed two hospital employees in Dallas last year while attending the birth of his child. In Atlanta’s hospital waiting room in May, a man opened fire, leaving one woman dead and four others injured. At a Dallas health center late last month, a guy shot and injured a doctor. At a Tulsa, Oklahoma, medical facility in June 2022, a patient shot and killed his surgeon and three other people because he held the physician responsible for his ongoing post-operative anguish.
Not only are there lethal shootings but according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 73% of all nonfatal workplace violence injuries occurred to healthcare employees in 2018, the most recent year for which data is available.
A nurse with direct knowledge of the briefing who spoke to reporters said that the day before the shooting on July 22 in Portland, hospital staff members were advised during meetings to be ready for a potential “code amber” announcement in case the visitor attempted to kidnap the child. She talked under the condition of anonymity because she was worried about reprisals at work.
A timeline released by Portland police shows those fifteen minutes prior to the shooting, a hospital employee contacted 911 to report that a visitor was endangering staff members.
The nurse said, “He kind of fell through the cracks.” “I don’t know how many opportunities he had. Staff members were somewhat at a loss as to what to do or what they could or could not do with him.
Within minutes, police arrived at the maternity ward, but it was already too late. In order to fill in for the understaffed security crew at Good Samaritan, Bobby Smallwood, a security guard from another Legacy hospital, had been shot and killed. A second healthcare worker was hurt by shrapnel. Police shot and killed the guy in a neighboring community after he ran away.
Due to the ongoing enquiry, the hospital chose not to comment on the nurse’s remarks.
Legacy Health said in a statement said that while “events like these are unpredictable,” “our team exhibited professionalism and a great deal of courage in the face of extraordinarily challenging circumstances that day.”
In Portland, Legacy Health intends to add more metal detectors, mandate bag checks at every hospital, and direct patients and visitors to specific entrances. According to the hospital, more security personnel will be given stun guns, and the bullet-slowing film is being applied to certain inside glass and at important doors.
The American Nurses Association reports that almost 40 states now have laws that either increase or create consequences for violence against medical personnel. Hospital security personnel are armed with batons, stun guns, or firearms, and several states—including Indiana, Ohio, and Georgia—allow hospitals to establish their own police units.
Black people already face policing and medical disparities, according to critics, and private hospital police may make matters worse. Additionally, they claim that private police forces are frequently exempt from disclosure requirements and are not required to report things like how frequently they use force or whether they disproportionately detain people of color.
According to Deborah Burger, a registered nurse and the president of National Nurses United, many of the circumstances contributing to violence are brought on by a broken healthcare system. This means that security teams cannot handle all of these issues.
Burger said, patients and families are frequently transferred between emergency rooms and their homes and are dissatisfied by the high expenses, the lack of treatment options, or the lengthy wait periods.
The only actual target for complaints at hospitals, according to her, is the nurse or other staff member who is directly in front of them.
Nursing staff shortages make it necessary for them to care for more patients while giving them less time to check each one for behavioral issues. If nurses haven’t had time to develop relationships with patients, Burger said, attempts to de-escalate anger won’t be as successful.
According to D’Angelo, increased nurse-to-patient ratios are “absolutely catastrophic formulas for workplace violence to increase.” There is no longer even the buddy system when two coworkers watch out for one another.
According to Burger, some hospital managers encourage personnel to appease belligerent patients and visitors out of concern for their reputation. This is so because of the Affordable Care Act, which attached a portion of federal reimbursement rates to consumer satisfaction surveys. Low satisfaction results in a hit to the bottom line financially.
“Staff safety should never come before the results of those surveys,” D’Angelo said.
The rates of workplace violence attributable to healthcare facilities, according to Eric Sean Clay, vice president of security at Memorial Hermann Health in Houston and the incoming president of the International Association for Healthcare Security & Safety, are “grossly underreported.”
“I think that a lot of it comes down to carers just being very tolerant, and they come to look at it as just part of the job,” he added. Sometimes people don’t want to report it if they are not hurt, and other times they believe nothing will change.
Security guards at Clay’s hospital are both armed and unarmed, though he eventually wants to equip them all.
We actually use our own fire range, according to Clay. Since there has been an increase in gun violence, none of his security guards have pulled their firearms while on duty in recent years, but he still wants them to be prepared.
If an armed security force could have a negative impact on healthcare access or current disparities, Clay and Memorial Hermann Health declined to comment.
The Portland hospital’s nurse reported that the shooting had her coworkers in a state of unprecedented fear and solemnity. She worries that the claims of greater safety made by Legacy Health will only be transitory due to the high cost of hiring, educating, and keeping security personnel.
Because they don’t want to deal with “code silver,” the alarm sent when someone at the hospital possesses a weapon, some of her coworkers have quit.
The nurse explained, “You know, we always say these patients and their families are so vulnerable because they’re having the worst day of their life here,” and this is why many employees are reluctant to demand better behavior.
She remarked, “We have to stop that narrative. “Bleeding out from a chest gunshot wound is vulnerability. When you have to lock yourself and your patients in a room due to code silver, you are vulnerable.
