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Canadian physician lobbies to arm hospital guards with Tasers

Healthcare Security Weekly, December 17, 2007

An emergency department physician in Canada wants security guards at his hospital armed with Tasers or pepper spray to deal with an increase in violent confrontations between staff and patients, reported the National Post.

Brian Dufresne, MD, chief of emergency medicine at the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre in Fort McMurray, Alberta, said not a day goes by without at least one incident of verbal abuse or physical threats. The increase in violent confrontations includes a recent assault on a security guard who was left with a black eye and facial cuts.

Dufresne, 52, an 11-year veteran at the hospital, said the facility needs to step up security to make the facility safer. He said a large transient population coupled with high levels of alcohol and cocaine abuse fuel much of the violence. The regional health authority is reviewing the security situation, but said it does not support arming guards, the news report said.

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