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Man rides horse into Hawaii hospital to visit father

Healthcare Security Weekly, March 31, 2008

The hospital has a pet visitation policy, but one man went too far when he rode a horse into the Wilcox Memorial Hospital on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

A spokesman said a man called the hospital earlier this month and said he was going to ride his father's horse into the hospital to visit his father, who was a patient there, Honolulu TV station KITV reported. The man took the horse up the elevator to a patient floor, where he was met by security and a nurse supervisor.

Authorities said the man appeared intoxicated. He posed for pictures with the horse and an off-duty nurse before the animal was escorted out of the building. The man's father claimed the horse was not his, the hospital spokesman told the TV station.

"We do have a pet visitation policy, but it does not include a horse," the spokesman said. "Although it sounds funny, we don't want to compromise our visitor and our patient healthcare."

The hospital said it reported the incident to the health department and is looking at ways to improve security.

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