Another mass shooting, this time at a Tulsa hospital. 3-4 dead, including the shooter. Ugh.
*A segment covering and discussing the recent mass shootings was interrupted to cover a mass shooting in Tulsa. If that isn’t uniquely American, what is?
Terrible. Obviously these mass shooting atrocities must be reported, but all to often they inspire more of the same.
Unfortunately hospital shootings are not that uncommon. And then there are the exorbitant number of assaults that occur against healthcare providers- nurses I believe have it the worst. I think the average for ED providers is over 1 assault per year. Last winter I had to get stitches from a plastic surgeon because a patient came up behind and bashed my head into a tiled wall. That was great.
Rather recently at the psych hospital I work at, I was going between buildings and saw two security guards dealing with an absolutely irate man. One of the guards gave me a look of “help me”. Then I hear the the man say to the guards “the first person to lay a hand on me will have it cut off”. I come over and deescalate the situation. Apparently his friends dropped him off in the driveway of the hospital and abandoned him and he was in full blown mental health crisis.
I brought him into the admissions building, got him settled with the intake people- he had calmed down and was extremely polite to staff, willing to be admitted, and so I went back to my office. 15-20min later I get a phone call saying that when they searched his body as part of the intake process, they found a hunting knife w/5” blade and loaded .45cal pistol with an extra (loaded) magazine. He handed them over voluntarily without complaint but didn’t seem to realize the gravity of the situation.
It’s absolutely terrifying to consider just how differently this interaction could have ended for everyone involved (and beyond) had things not worked out as they did. The guy was delusional, paranoid, extremely agitated, and clearly terrified and confused- not a good combination with a gun. Thank god for a moment of clarity on his part to be compliant.
I don’t know the full details but response by the local police was apparently left much to be desired with a “what do you want us to do” attitude. They refused to take possession of the gun because the guy had come to the hospital and was admitted voluntarily. I suppose that’s the law but it’s a bit crazy to me. And they had to be persuaded to at least dispose of the bullets (even with the patient’s permission).
Several years ago we had shooting in Boston at one of the hospitals under the same ownership as mine. A man walked into the building, demanded to speak to a specific cardiologist, the doctor kindly stopped his day to spend 40 minutes talking to the man about his mother’s treatment (who had died as a result of her complex condition)- before being shot dead and the perpetrator killing himself. I know a number of people who worked with the cardiologist and by all accounts he was a truly outstanding and brilliant physician and truly went above and beyond for his patients. He had 3 young kids and a pregnant wife.
Safety for hospital workers is something really not talked about enough. I think my hospital does a pretty good job at trying to prevent and handling such incidents. But I’ve heard many horror stories from friends where the admins just try to sweep everything under the rug.
