Pennsylvania shoots most recently in violence against hospital workers

A man who took the hostages in a Pennsylvania hospital during a shot who killed a police officer and hurt five other people highlighting the growing violence against US health workers and the challenge to protect them.

49-year-old Diogenes Archangel-Oortiz carried a gun and zipper connections to the UPMC Memorial Hospital in the southern York of Pennsylvania and took members of the hostage personnel on Saturday before being killed in A firewood with the police, officials said. The attack also left a doctor, medical assistant, custodian and two other injured officers.

The officers opened the fire while the Archangel-Oortiz held at the point of the weapon a member of the female staff whose hands had been connected in the zipper, the police said.

The apparent man intentionally targeted the hospital after being in contact with the intensive care unit at the beginning of the week for medical care, which involved someone else, according to York’s district lawyer.

Such violence in hospitals is increasing, often in emergency departments, but also in maternity and in intensive care units, said the security consultant at the Dick Sem.

“Many people are more faced, faster to become upset, faster to become threatening,” said Sem. “I interview thousands of nurses and I hear all the time about how they are abused every day.”

The reasons for Archangel-Oortiz have remained unclear, but the nurses are increasingly reporting the public harassment, especially following the Coronavirus pandemic, said SEM, former director of the Security and Crisis management for waste management and vice-president at Pinkerton/Securitas.

In hospital attacks, unlike random mass shoots elsewhere, the shooter often concerns someone, sometimes resentful of the care given by a relative who died, noted Sem.

“It tends to be someone who is upset about someone,” said Sem. “It may be a situation of domestic violence or employees, former employees. There are all kinds of variables. “

At Wellspan Health, a nearby hospital where some of the victims were taken, Megan Foltz said she has been worried about violence since she started working as a nurse almost 20 years ago.

“In the critical care environment, of course, there will be increased emotions. People lose their loved ones. There may be violence in tape, domestic violence. Urbrated people, “said Foltz.

In addition to the fear of being injured alone, the assistants are afraid to leave their patients without guard.

“If you move away from a bedside table to run, hide, keep you safe, leave your patient vulnerable,” she said.

Employees of medical assistance and social assistance have undergone almost three quarters of non-fault attacks on the private sector workers in 2021 and 2022 for a rate of more than five times more than the national average. US Office of Labor Statistics.

Other recent attacks on US health workers include:

The shooting is part of a wave of violence of weapons in recent years, which has gone through hospitals and medical centers in the US, who have endeavored to adapt to the growing threats.

With increased violence, several hospitals use metal detectors and screening visitors for threats at hospital entrances, including emergency departments.

Many workers of the hospital say after an attack that they never expected to be targeted.

Sem said that training can be essential to help medical staff identify those who could become violent.

“More than half of these incidents of which I am aware have shown some early warning signs from early indicators that this person is problematic. They are threatening, they are upset. And so it must be reported. That must be managed, “he said.

“If no one reports it, then you know until the weapon appears.”

– Chris Weber’s associated press writer contributed to this report from Los Angeles.