http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/us...alth.html?_r=0
Are guns appropriate?
Should they be used on emotional disturbed or mental ill folk who are out of control or dangerous?
Are they over used or are the security guards trained enough for these unique situations?
Pros and cons.
A clinical friend of mine in the 70's worked in an institution. If a patient was out of control, all the men were to surround said patient and take off their glasses. Another had his front teeth knocked out.
"Endanger a life, threaten to harm people, and eat the consequences when they fight back" would be the ideal route. If a patient decides today's the day he's going to break a doctor's jaw, shoot (or tase if appropriate) his ass.
However I sincerely doubt many security guards are trained to a very high degree. Half the hospitals in our area just contract cops to watch the shithead patients. I'm probably a little jaded at the thought of playing a-hole's games, my old man is still having teeth problems from prison work/fighting decades ago. Not worth the risk IMO.
Semper Gumby, Always Flexible
Are guns appropriate? Most likely, yes, because sometimes bad people go into hospitals with their own guns. Should hospital security be held to a higher standard of care due to their job environment? Again, most likely yes, because of the high probability of daily interaction with EDPs. Specialized training would seem to be indicated. Random thoughts? If you're going to take a hit in the high mediastinum, an American hospital seems to be the obvious best place for the bad fortune, based on that pic of Pean. Lastly: "23 percent of ER shootings involve guns grabbed from security personnel". Once again: OC, FTW...
People don't go to hospitals because they are having a good day. It's a emotionally charged environment, there's a lot of people that are frustrated, want things to happen faster, and have nothing to do but stew on how poorly they think they are being treated.
Drug addicts, usually in throes of desperation, come to hospitals to try to their next fix.
Hospitals are the primary place for prisoner escapes and breakouts. Very few hospitals have access control/secure areas for inmates.
Of the course the only real reason that security guards carry guns in hospitals is to shoot mentally ill people.
The one thing that has disappeared from hospitals over the years are orderlies. They provide non-medical care and since the service they provide can't be quantified on a spreadsheet, their jobs have gone away and their duties have been split up and pushed onto security and medical staff.
Without fail the doctors, nurses, and admins that bitch about police in hospitals are the first ones to run out of the room when the cuffs come off and everything goes south.
Interesting observation, it's something I hadn't given much thought.Originally Posted by pablo
In a lot of hospitals, the trained/armed security is nowhere nearby anyway. I once had to help subdue a 220 lbs level 3 combatives instructor who was trying to escape an Army psych ward in the midst of a violent psychotic break. I happened to be the only male on the floor (not as a patient, haha) with any kind of combat arms training/experience. By the time the DA police showed up, it was over. Fun times.
I am doing my preceptorship in the emergency department of the largest, busiest, and most well-reputed level 1 trauma center in my time zone. As such, we get lots of penetrating trauma (GSWs, stabbings) and blunt trauma. We are also the city hospital, and as such get lots of lower income patients and pretty much get ALL of the pre-detention medical visits.
I would NOT want to work there if it was not for the armed security guards and constant presence of sheriffs deputies, etc. Hell no. Very happy they are there and they are armed.
Last edited by Nephrology; 02-12-2016 at 04:38 PM.
I worked off duty in a local hospital ER for a month in December. The security guards had pepper spray. They had orderlies, although I don't know if that was their job title, in the area where they put disruptive patients. Most of them were large males. They called security if someone became disruptive. If you were disruptive enough you got strapped to the gurney.
My department does off duty there 24/7. You work a 12 hour shift. Basically you are the sheriff of the ER and you can call the cavalry if needed and/or take action as needed. Lots of craziness and addicts looking for fixes.
Last edited by Coyotesfan97; 02-12-2016 at 06:08 PM. Reason: Grammar
Just a dog chauffeur that used to hold the dumb end of the leash.
This thread made me think of this recent story...
Man with a self-inflicted gunshot wound shoots his way into Reston Hospital Center
"When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man."
My hospital recently made the switch to armed security. We're one of the busiest level one trauma centers in the southern Chicago area (meaning a lot of shootings, stabbings etc from the south side wind up here).
I prefer it. We had a shooting back in 2001...a murder-suicide of a terminal patient by their spouse and that really threw into focus how the bosses felt about medical staff and security dealing with an active shooter.
As far as security having to shoot a rowdy patient....its never happened, but they exercise significant restraint because the majority of times we call them, it's because a patient is detoxifying from alcohol (it's one of the worst substances to detox from), experiencing a temporary or permanent delirium state or is otherwise unable to make any rational decisions and has come down on the "assholish" side of the spectrum. Hey, it happens. Every day I'll deal with someone whose decision making process is impaired and security deals with those people multiple times a day. Shooting them because they punched a nurse in the face is off the table. They could get tased I suppose.
I mostly figure our armed security is for when Mr. Laquan Dindunuffin is recuperating from his multiple GSWs and his "long lost cousin" comes to visit him...and by "visit" I mean finish him off in retaliation for that drive by that left someone's baby momma shot.
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