Escape from the ER

Last night on the 11:00 news there was a story about a prison inmate who was taken to his local ER with some kind of leg pain. Apparently, while in the ER, he got free and overpowered the prison officer with him, stole his gun, then used it to shoot and kill the poor unarmed hospital security guard who was trying to help the officer, and finally escaped from the ER. Now there is a statewide manhunt for him.

This story was particularly alarming to me because I treat prisoners in the company of prison officers all the time. I try to not think of them as inmates and treat them as I would any other patient. On numerous occasions I have had the officers unshackle these patients to facilitate a procedure or an exam. Man, am I naive!! I could easily find myself facilitating a tragedy like the one on the local news last night. I know our little old hospital security guard would be no match for any kind of killer. Hell, I think I could take him down on a good day. It really is not a safe environment where I work. On many of the night shifts it's just me and 4 or 5 female nurses manning the place. I guess the city police department has realized just how vulnerable ER staff can be, because now they send a city police officer to man the ER every night. Good... let him deal with the violent patients instead of me, because a syringe full of sedative and a soothing bedside manner really is not enough for certain situations.

Funny, just as I was typing this, CNN aired an update about the same inmate on their national news. Now there is a national manhunt because today he killed someone else.