By Dan Hounsell

While fire safety is a top priority in all types of institutional and commercial facilities, healthcare settings present facility managers with an added level of potential fire-related safety threats to occupants.

Houston police are investigating the death of a patient at a Kingwood hospital after she was badly burned in a fire as medical staff used a defibrillator on her, according to ABC 13. Denise Jill Asaro, 69 died at the hospital, where she was being treated for COVID-19.

Hospitalized on the fifth floor of the North Tower at HCA Houston Healthcare Kingwood, Asaro was being resuscitated with a defibrillator when something caught fire and caused a small explosion. Officials are investigating whether the defibrillator being used ignited something in the room. They were also looking into the presence of an open medical oxygen tank as a possible factor.