Petrie-Flom Faculty Director I. Glenn Cohen has published a new co-authored article in the The Journal of the American Medical Association on active shooter incidents in hospital settings. From the article:
On January 20, 2015, Michael J. Davidson, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon, was fatally shot on the premises of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. In the year leading up to this tragic day, a total of 14 active shooter incidents occurred in hospitals throughout the United States, leaving 15 fatalities in their wake. This reality and its potential amplification by copycats has reignited the debate over the adequacy of current and future hospital security arrangements. In this Viewpoint, we discuss the evolving frequency of hospital-based active shooter incidents, the relevant legal framework, and the role of hospitals and physicians in countering this threat.
As defined by the US Department of Homeland Security, an active shooter incident is one wherein “an individual is actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area.” By several accounts, the overall prevalence of this otherwise rare occurrence is increasing. A study by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reveals the overall number of active shooter incidents to have increased from 6.4 per year (2000-2006) to 16.4 per year (2007-2013). Similar rates have been reported for the hospital setting wherein the average number of active shooter incidents has increased from 9 per year (2000-2005) to 16.7 per year (2006-2011), claiming 161 lives in the process. It would thus appear that the frequency of hospital-based active shooter incidents has evolved to constitute at least a monthly occurrence. […]
The political paralysis plaguing gun laws notwithstanding, hospitals are not without recourse in seeking to mitigate the threat of active shooter incidents. On the local advocacy front, advancing and enacting bills for gun-free zones in health care settings constitutes a worthy effort in that a comparable federal statute remains unlikely. Concurrently, selective locale-specific enhancement of hospital security arrangements may increase deterrence, thereby mitigating risk and civil liability. […]
Read the full article here.
