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Hospital steps up security after toddler goes missing
Healthcare Security Weekly, September 26, 2004
The University of North Carolina Hospital increased security last week after a parent removed his two-year-old daughter without notifying hospital staff, the Herald Sun reports.
Madison Douglas, 2, disappeared from the hospital and hospital officials didn't know what happened until the following day when the father called to say he took her home.
Following the incident, the state Division of Facility Services inspected the hospital and discovered enough problems to recommend that federal reimbursement be terminated.
"The key issue is patients' rights," said Jeff Horton, chief of the licensure and certification section of the facility services division, to the Herald Sun. "Facilities have the responsibility for protecting patients' rights, and that includes keeping them safe. The fact that this child was missing from this facility and they didn't know what happened to [her] was a failure."
Horton would not discuss the specific findings of the investigation. However, after the inspection, the hospital announced plans to install additional controlled-access doors, closed-circuit video cameras, and other monitoring equipment. In addition, visitors to the children's unit will have to be buzzed in by an employee.
Until the new equipment arrives, extra security staff will guard the outside of pediatric entrances.
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