A new report says the January fatal shooting death of a Boston surgeon was part of an increasingly frequent series of "active shooter" incidents in U.S. healthcare facilities, according to an article on the Consumer Affairs website.
In the year leading up to the Boston shooting, there were 14 other active-shooter incidents at hospitals around the country that left 15 people dead.
Dr. Eli Adashi, former dean of medicine and biological sciences at Brown University and fellow researchers found that while hospitals faced about 9 active shooter incidents a year between 2000 and 2005, the rate had climbed to 16.7 a year between 2006 and 2011.
Not having an adequate plan to deal with an active shooter in the halls of a healthcare facility can expose a hospital to civil liability, the report said.