In addition to security exposure common to most buildings, hospitals, nursing homes and assisted care facilities present special risks because of patients' limited abilities to fend for themselves.

In one case, for instance, an elderly patient wearing a bathrobe stepped outside her assisted care facility and the door closed and automatically locked behind her. There was no doorbell and no way for her to let persons inside know of her plight. To reach the closest unlocked entrance, she would have had to brave - 60º temperatures and scale ten-foot snowdrifts. She did not survive.

In this case, the risk was certainly foreseeable and elaborate security measures were not required to minimize the risk. A doorbell would have prevented this death.

Other than this duty to provide an increased level of care for patients, however, there is little difference between hospital security and that expected at other facilities. The key factors in this type of litigation are foreseeability, event history and community standards.

Please scroll down to view security expert witness hospital and assisted care case titles.

SECURITY EXPERT WITNESS LITIGATION CASE HISTORY HOSPITAL AND ASSISTED CARE FACILITY SECURITY

Christine Pascaris v
Henry Ford Medical Center
Hospital-assisted care facility security expert witness for plaintiff
Wayne County, Michigan

The Clara Floe Estate v
Healthquest
Hospital-assisted care facility security expert witness for plaintiff
Beadle County, South Dakota

An attachment to Mr. Schmedlen's curriculum vitae identifies the clients in each of these matters and contains a recap of each of the cases.

Questions on this subject? Write Roger H. Schmedlen, CPP, CFE, CII, MIPI

HOSPITAL SECURITY EXPERT SECURITY EXPERT WITNESS

HOSPITAL SECURITY EXPERT
SECURITY EXPERT WITNESS