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Patient’s attempted escape prompts security questions

Healthcare Security Weekly, March 14, 2005

The Regional Medical Center (TRMC) in Orangeburg County, SC, officials are evaluating security procedures after a mentally ill patient seriously injured a nurse and others last week, The Times and Democrat reported.

A 22-year-old male ran uncontrollably through the hallways of the facility at 2 a.m., after family brought him in for treatment. The patient ran into staff members, knocking them to the ground. A nurse received stitches for a gash in her lip and fractured her lower ankle in the scuffle. She returned to the job later in the week.

"Unfortunately, that's not an unusual issue," TRMC President Tom Dandridge told the Times. "(But) we'll go two or three years without an incident like this."

After the incident, questions arose surrounding the effectiveness of the hospital's security. "Our security force is not armed and has not been deputized," Dandridge said. "We don't do that here."

Local law enforcement provide backup for the security detail. Dandridge insists the facility, its staff, and patients are reasonably safe.

"If you look into the day-to-day, 365 days, the security incidents are like that at any hospital," Dandridge said. "I feel safe. There's a security force that can't be everywhere, but there is a security force."

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