Mich. Hospital Reviewing Policies After Patient Fires Gun in Room
The patient barricaded himself in his room at Covenant HealthCare until officers gained entry with ballistic shields.
Covenant Healthcare has resumed normal operations since the incident.
Administrators at Covenant HealthCare are reviewing patient handling policies and procedures at the hospital after a patient fired a gun inside his room over the weekend.
No one was hurt in the incident and police later subdued the patient with a taser, reports mlive.com.
The incident occurred around midnight Saturday night when an elderly male patient in a third floor room became upset.
As a Covenant Healthcare employees tried to calm the patient, he pulled a gun out of his bag and began waving it in the air. The staff members fled to a safe location with another patient that was in the room.
Police say the patient fired at least one shot before barricading himself in the room.
Covenant was first placed on “code green”, which means there’s a disturbance, then placed on “code silver”, which means there’s an active shooter in the hospital.
The facility’s Cooper campus went into a state of heightened alert and officials called the Saginaw Police Department. Officers from Saginaw PD, Michigan State Police and the Saginaw County Sheriff Department secured the area, and then entered the room with ballistic shields.
The patient, who had previously been in Covenant HealthCare’s intensive care unit, was subdued and the handgun was secured, but he was not taken into police custody. He remains at the facility handcuffed and under the watch of a Covenant security officer.
Police will review the incident with Saginaw County prosecutors.
Now Covenant HealthCare is reviewing staff members’ response to the situation as well as current policies and procedures to determine if any changes need to be made, reports wsgw.com. Staff members and patients affected by the incident are being assisted through Covenant’s Second Victim program.
“Covenant leadership expresses deep appreciation to the clinical and security staff involved who took quick, heroic action, and to the members of the Saginaw and Michigan State Police for their fast response, and immediate command of the situation,” Larry Daly, Covenant’s director of business and planning, said.
The hospital has since resumed normal operations.
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