How Safe Are Our Hospitals

With all the cutbacks that are affecting the nation’s capitals, one of the first areas in the facilities that give way to failure is security. And that is what happened at Saint Joseph’s hospital last week. A mentally woman posed as one of the staff and had administered first aid to several patients before she start miss using several pieces of equipment. Several staff members noticed her mistakes and asked her to stop performing any more treatment. It is important to note at this time that she had been working long enough and fouled staff to the point that the believed that she was a nurse, for a while anyway. When it was uncovered that she was a fraud, the head of the hospital scrambled to head off the fallout, and possible lawsuits that would come with such situations.

The good new here is that the woman never had access to medication or to classified records but the incident should bring into question how safe are America’ hospitals and how open are others to similar situations. The breakdown of the veteran’s wing at Walter Reed hospital has been so well documented due to who the victims are and the political weather surrounding the war in Iraq and massive spending costs that siphons funds from our social institutions.  What is still unclear is how safe are the rest of our medical facilities. At a time where there seems to be a climate of demanded security, one would think that the first places that would be secure enough would those places that are dependant on safety to allow its staff to perform their duties.

Only time will tell if this story will force some changes in how hospitals treat the subject of security here on out.

Until next time.

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