N.Y. hospital shooting illustrates complexity of threat

Incident spotlighted the complex job of protecting healthcare facilities


A murder-suicide in the Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y., spotlighted the complex job of protecting healthcare facilities, according to an article on the Lohud.com website.

Healthcare providers have struggled to deal with the personal nature of many hospital shootings.

"Hospital shootings tend to be more targeted shooters ... where the motive was grudge, or suicide, or euthanizing an ill relative," Dr. Christina Catlett, an emergency response expert at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said in the article. "It’s much harder to target your security measures to that particular set of motives."

“There is the common active-shooting training of run, hide or fight, but it’s unique in a healthcare facility because the providers are going to feel very compelled to stay with their patients,” said Christopher Smith, a New York hospital safety expert.

Read the article

 

 



August 16, 2018


Topic Area: Security


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