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Maryland hospital refuses inmate patients

Healthcare Security Weekly, January 14, 2008

Until security issues are resolved, a Laurel, MD hospital, from which a state prison inmate made a violent escape, has refused to provide care for prisoners, reported the Associated Press (AP).

The hospital's corporate parent, Dimensions Health, sent letters to state police and corrections officials informing them that Laurel Regional Hospital will no longer treat inmate patients except in emergencies. Federal law requires hospitals to take emergency cases, but Dimension hospitals will not accept transfers from the prison system, hospital officials said.

That decision follows the January 2 escape of a prisoner who overpowered a corrections department guard, stole his gun, and used it to escape from Laurel Regional Hospital. The prisoner was later killed in a shootout with police. It was the second such escape in as many months from the hospital. Hospital officials plan to meet with state correction officials to discuss security issues, the AP reported.

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