Securing Weapons in Texas Psychiatric Hospitals

[CityOfChicago]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if we start going around securing weapons in mental hospitals, how are the psychopaths supposed to escape and go on murderous killing sprees with fire axes?

[BJJVad]

Is this thread still going?

[Curt581]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if we start going around securing weapons in mental hospitals, how are the psychopaths supposed to escape and go on murderous killing sprees with fire axes?

How good would "The Shining" have been without "Heeerre's Johnny!"?

[retdetsgt]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if we start going around securing weapons in mental hospitals, how are the psychopaths supposed to escape and go on murderous killing sprees with fire axes?

Not to mention some of us actually having access to the Internet.

[Arrachion]

Fourteen.

[Arrachion]

Fifteen.

[Arrachion]

[Arrachion]

Fifteen

[Arrachion]

Maybe this is why they want them to lock their guns up:

Psych hospital cited after officer's gun went off | StarTribune.com

Psych hospital cited after officer's gun went off

A policeman wasn't asked to remove his handgun before getting into a tussle with a suicidal patient who got control of the weapon last April. State officials say the Annandale facility is now in compliance.

By PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune

A state-operated psychiatric hospital in Wright County has been cited for a safety lapse after a suicidal patient went on a rampage last April, grabbed the gun of a police officer and had it discharge during a tussle with the officer and staff members.

State investigators found that staff members at Community Behavioral Health Hospital in Annandale "did not assure a safe environment as [the] officer entered the patient care area with his gun," according to a report released Wednesday by the Minnesota Department of Health.

No one was hurt and the patient was subdued.

According to the Health Department report:

The patient was admitted to the hospital on April 10 and "represented himself as worthless and stated that his life plan was to commit suicide."

Four days later, while outside for group activities, he tried to flee over the facility's 12-foot-high fence and kicked at a gate. When he returned inside, he hit a window with a chair and a coffee table, then kicked at an exit door.

A police officer responding to a 911 call aimed his Taser at the man, who put up a blanket as defense and charged at the officer.

The officer fired his Taser, and the patient pushed the officer against a door.

The officer fell to the floor with the patient and was joined by three hospital staff members who tried to subdue the man.

Moments later, the patient gained control of the officer's handgun and the weapon discharged.

The officer regained possession of the gun, other officers arrived, and the patient was handcuffed and taken to jail.

Hospital policy in force at the time said that police "will be asked to leave weapons ... outside of the patient care area." No staff members interviewed by state health investigators recalled making such a request of the officer.

The report says the hospital has made changes since the incident, including adding new external signs notifying officers about the gun policy and improving access for officers to a gun lock box outside the patient area.

The hospital's parent agency, the Minnesota Department of Human Services, said Wednesday that it "concurs with the findings of the Department of Health, deeply regrets the incident and has taken all necessary corrective action.'' The agency said it is improving staff training and working with local law enforcement agencies, and that the Annandale facility is now in compliance with state standards.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482

[Arrachion]

A couple of years ago, a mental patient in a private facility got hold of some sort of metal rod from a door and attacked a staff member, causing some serious injuries. They called the police, but when the police got there, the staff said they couldn't enter armed. The police told them they would either enter armed or leave. They were allowed entry and ended up killing the patient who had gone completely berserk. Had they not been armed, who knows what would have happened?

Is this the incident?


Hospital security may be inadequate
Sources say the facility where Mejia died had no dedicated security staff
By Jennifer Anderson

The Portland Tribune, Apr 13, 2001, Updated Oct 30, 2009

The April 1 police shooting of Jose Santos Victor Mejia Poot at BHC-Pacific Gateway Hospital has raised dozens of questions about the quality of security at the hospital, which is considered a backup provider for Multnomah County.

Former workers at the Sellwood psychiatric facility, county mental health workers and residents have expressed concerns including: the point at which the hospital calls police to assist with patients, whether staff allows police to bring weapons onto psychiatric wards, the types of security staff available in an emergency and what kinds of actions are taken to calm and control patients.

“Questions abound here,” said Bob Joondeph, director of the Oregon Advocacy Center, a nonprofit legal service for the mentally ill. “You can correct problems if your patient is alive.”

Mejia had been brought to the Sellwood psychiatric hospital March 30, about 15 hours after being arrested on a Tri-Met bus in Northeast Portland for harassment and resisting arrest.

Sunday evening, April 1, Pacific Gateway staff called officers for assistance, saying he was threatening hospital personnel with pencils. Officers helped place Mejia in a seclusion room and left. Half an hour later, the hospital called police again.

Police said Mejia was out of the seclusion room and wielding a metal bar apparently ripped from a door. Officers used pepper spray and beanbag rounds before one of the officers fired two bullets. Mejia died of gunshot wounds to the head and chest. The three officers at the scene have been placed on leave.

Karl Brady, chief executive officer of Pacific Gateway, did not immediately respond to a certified letter sent by the Portland Tribune, which asked several questions about the hospital’s security.

Strict procedures, including the use of restraints and medication at all of the hospitals contracted by Multmomah County are dictated by the Oregon Administrative Rules, the Joint Commision on Accreditation of Hospitals and the Health Care Financing Administration, Joondeph said.

Standardized policies

Besides Pacific Gateway, Oregon Health Sciences University, Providence Health Systems, Legacy Health Systems and Woodlawn Park Hospital also are contracted by Multnomah County as adult (nonadolescent, nongeriatric) providers. Their psychiatric units’ security policies are similar.

All have trained security staffs that do not carry guns and are able to respond to emergency situations around the clock. Sometimes other personnel on staff also respond to the crisis. “We page them and they come,” said Robin Blair-Henderson, director of behavior and health services at Woodland Park, a 15-bed facility on Northeast Hancock Street.

All say police are rarely called to assist in controlling patients. At OHSU, it’s happened only twice in 15 years, said Jim Newman, a hospital spokesman.

“First, staff in the ward tries to control the situation. If they feel it’s past their ability, they call OHSU’s public safety force,” he said.

And all have policies that ask police to check their weapons at the door for routine visits, such as patient drop-offs.

However, in a crisis situation, they say police are allowed to bring weapons in. “We have no control over whether guns are brought onto the unit,” said Tracy Barnett, spokeswoman for Legacy Hospital, which has three facilities with beds reserved for psychiatric patients: Legacy Adventist, Legacy Emanual and Legacy Good Samaritan. “Once they get here, they are to respond as they do to any of their calls.”

All of these hospitals have strict policies for controlling patients’ behavior, including techniques such as one-on-one therapy, timeouts in an unlocked room, seclusion in a locked room while a patient is monitored, and the use of medication if it will lower a patient’s anxiety.

Blair-Henderson said that seclusion and restraints are used from three to four times a month at Woodland Park, “which is relatively low,” she said. The staff also takes pride in the fact that it rarely uses sedating medication, she said: “You can’t just give someone medication to rest them, just to knock them out. The medication has to have a purpose. If you don’t need it, you can’t give it.”

At Pacific Gateway, however, several mental health workers familiar with the hospital say there is no dedicated security staff.

County investigation

Joondeph, among others, wonders about the county’s ability to review conduct at Pacific Gateway when the county could risk losing access to 66 adult beds for psychiatric patients if it decided to end its contract with the hospital.

Janice Gratton, senior manager of Multnomah County’s Department of Family Services’ Behavioral Health Division, points out that only three to four beds at any given time are being contracted by the county. The rest of the patients are being paid for by other providers. “It’s not really only our business they’re depending on,” she said.

“Ultimately our responsibility is to have safe places for people,” she said. “If that hospital isn’t a safe place, we’re compelled to look for other places. It’s not easy, but it’s part of our responsibility.”

The county is conducting two investigations, which it launched after the shooting incident, into the hospital. One looks into whether abuse or neglect occured and must be completed in 45 days, she said. Gratton said she hopes it will be completed before that.

Gratton hopes a separate investigation into the pattern of care at the hospital will be complete in two weeks. Investigators have begun interviewing staff members at the hospital and will look at medical records in coming days.

Contact Jennifer Anderson at janderson@portlandtribune.com.

Copyright 2009 Pamplin Media Group, 6605 S.E. Lake Road, Portland, OR 97222 • 503-226-6397

[Arrachion]

Well, I've finally received some feedback from one organization that I queried, the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health at the University of Texas at Austin. The lady who fielded my email contacted the assistant director of state mental hospitals and forwarded his reply, which was that there is no state code prohibiting armed entry.

[Arrachion]

There is not.

You win the kewpie doll.