Hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted care facilities, in addition to security exposure common to most buildings, 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

Arnold v
New Horizons Home Healthcare, et al.
Hospital-assisted care facility security expert witness for plaintiff
Allen County, Indiana

Oleg Shteynbuk v
Genesis Behavioral Services, Inc., et al.
Hospital-assisted care facility security expert witness for plaintiff
Milwaukee County, Wisconsin

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 and Assisted Care Facility Security Expert Witness travel time is capped as follows on litigation cases:
3 hours round trip: Illinois (Northeast Illinois including Chicago IL), Indiana (North of Muncie IN), Michigan (All of Michigan except MI Upper Peninsula), Ohio (Columbus OH and Northern OH)
4 hours round trip: Delaware (All of DE), District of Columbia (Metropolitan Washington DC area), Florida (Orlando FL south including Florida keys), Illinois (All of IL except, Northeast Illinois, Chicago IL), Indiana (South of Muncie IN), Iowa (All of IA east of Council Bluffs IA), Kansas (Eastern KS area including Kansas City KS), Kentucky (All of KY), Maryland (All of MD), Michigan (Central and Eastern Upper Peninsula, MI), Minnesota (East of Detroit Lakes MN), Missouri (All of MO), New Jersey (All of NJ), New York (All of NY including NYC), North Carolina (West of Raleigh Durham NC metro area), Ohio (Southern OH, south of Columbus OH), Oregon (Coastal OR areas including Portland OR), Pennsylvania (All of PA), South Carolina (Greenville SC Spartanburg SC area), Tennessee (All of TN), Virginia (Western VA west of Richmond VA), Washington (Coastal WA cities), West Virginia (All of WV), Wisconsin (All of WI)
5 hours round trip: Alabama (All of AL), Arkansas (All of AK), Arizona (Southern half of AZ south of Prescott AZ to Nogales AZ and including the Phoenix AZ and Tucson AZ areas), Arizona (Northwest AZ including Lake Mead, AZ and Las Vegas, NV areas), California (Western CA coastal cities regions and Southern California including Los Angeles CA, Orange County CA and northwestern regions such as San Francisco CA), Colorado (Boulder CA and Denver CA areas), Connecticut (All of CT), Florida (North of Orlando FL metro area, Florida Panhandle and of of FL in Central Time Zone), Georgia (All of GA including Atlanta GA), Iowa (All of IA west of Council Bluffs IA), Kansas (Most of KS west of Kansas City KS), Louisiana (All of LA), Maine (All of ME), Massachusetts (All of MA), Michigan (Western Upper Peninsula MI), Minnesota (West of Detroit Lakes MN), Mississippi (All of MS), Nebraska (All of NE east of CO), Nevada (Extreme southern NV including Las Vegas NV region), New Hampshire (All of NH), North Carolina (Raleigh Durham NC east), North Dakota (East of Minot ND), Oklahoma (All of OK), Rhode Island (All off RI), South Carolina (All of SC except the Greenville SC Spartanburg SC area), South Dakota (East of Rapid City SD), Texas (Northeast TX including Dallas Fort Worth TX), Vermont (All of VT), Virginia (Eastern VA including Richmond VA)
6 hours round trip: Arizona (Northern half of AZ), California (Eastern CA north of Death Valley CA area), Colorado (All of CO except for Boulder CA and Denver CA areas), Idaho (All of ID), Montana (All of MT), Nebraska (Western NE), Nevada (All of NV except extreme south Las Vegas NV region), New Mexico (All of NM), North Dakota (Minot ND and west), Oregon (Eastern 3/4 of OR), South Dakota (Rapid City SD and west), Texas (Northeast TX including Dallas Fort Worth TX), Utah (All of UT), Washington (All of WA except coastal WA cities), Wyoming (All of WY)
Negotiable: Alaska, American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands

HOSPITAL SECURITY EXPERT SECURITY EXPERT WITNESS

HOSPITAL SECURITY EXPERT
SECURITY EXPERT WITNESS