Firsthand Encounters and Experiences
Catherine A. Marco, MD, FACEP, encountered an active shooter the same day as the Tulsa, Oklahoma, mass shooting.8 On June 1, her hospital in Ohio experienced an active shooter incident ending with both the patient and security guard dying. “I was just working a regular shift with the residents and we had a full emergency department. We were boarding a lot of patients. Someone came running from triage yelling, ‘There’s an active shooter out in triage.’ And this brought to mind the fact that all the training in the world might not help.”
The shooter was a prisoner in the custody of law enforcement and had been admitted, waiting for a hospital bed. “He had been in the ED for many hours without any incident,” Dr. Marco recalled. “Somehow [he] got the security officer’s weapon, shot the security officer, ran out to the ED parking lot, and shot himself. And they were both killed. We attempted resuscitation on both of them, but neither one could be resuscitated.”
Dr. Marco served on the reference committee during the ACEP Council Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, in October 2021 where a proposal to turn the ED into a firearm free zone was put forth. “Resolution 32: Firearm Ban in EDs Excluding Active Duty Law Enforcement” was also formally supported by the Vermont Chapter ACEP, the American Association of Women Emergency Physicians Section, and ACEP’s Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity Section. Read the sidebar on page 7 to retrace the path of 2021 Council resolution 32 from proposal to policy.
Dr. Kozak
Paul Kozak, MD, FACEP, an emergency physician in Arizona, served alongside Dr. Marco on the reference committee that analyzed Resolution 32. He, too, has had several encounters with ED violence. “I’m aware of about three episodes of people drawing guns in a hospital, and most of them were domestic disputes or in the offices of disgruntled patients,” explained Dr. Kozak. “Over my career, many times I have stood up and in between a patient and a nurse, when the patient got violent toward a nurse. It’s a pretty common occurrence.”
Dr. Thran
Resolution 32 cosponsor Niki Thran, MD, FACEP, who is also chapter President of Vermont ACEP and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, explained her position as, “I am against anyone carrying firearms in the ED with the exception of on-duty law enforcement, including federal agents and military police,” she said. “Hospital security too, if they are hired as such. I definitely do not think physicians and other staff should be carrying firearms in the ED.”
2 Responses to “Firearms and Emergency Department Safety”
August 20, 2022
Robert Hansen“Erect signage and provide for appropriate securing of firearms outside of the ED, designating the ED a ’Firearm-Free Zone”.
Truly one of the most useless ideas ACEP has ever come up with. Does anyone actually think “gun free zone” signs have EVER done anything to deter someone who wishes to cause harm on others? Schools are “gun free zones” and we see how well that works. It’s ridiculous to think that this will do anything to improve the safety of those of us who work in the ED.
August 21, 2022
Mike Magoon MD FACEPHospitals have always been “firearm free zones.” It is illegal to carry a firearm in the hospital – and the ED is part of the hospital. This ACEP policy seems redundant, and unfortunately accomplishes nothing. Evil people have never cared whether there is a sign on the door asking them not to bring weapons.
This policy only makes it more difficult for emergency physicians to carry a side arm, if they feel their welfare could be at risk in a rough ED.