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MN hospital cited after disturbed ED patient gets Tasered

When the staff at Northfield (MN) City Hospital's emergency believed that a disturbed patient was about to become violent, they called the local police, as their facility didn't have the security staff to deal with the situation. When the patient remained threatening, the police Tasered the man, after which hospital staffers were able to medicate the man and transfer him to a psych unit at a different facility. Now, federal and state health officials have cited the hospital for violating the patient's rights. The Minnesota Department of Health says the hospital failed to protect the patient safety, a charge that theoretically could cause it to lose its CMS certification unless it is addressed.

The Minnesota Hospital Association and other industry observers say that Northfield did nothing wrong. However, regulators say that the hospital should have been better prepared to deal with the man even before the police arrived, given that they see drugged and psychiatrically-disturbed patients every day. What's more, hospital staffers shouldn't have let the situation escalate for five hours, between the patient's arrival at 2 a.m. and the arrival of the police at 7 a.m., reviewers said.

To learn more about this incident:
- read this Minneapolis Star-Tribune article

More stories about Minnesota Department Of Health   mental health issues   department of health   Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)   Regulators   patient safety   Patient Rights   Minnesota Hospital  

Comments

So the MN Dept of Health believes the hospital should have caled the police earlier so the patient could have been tasered sooner? Police are not trained to deal with this type of patient except by physically subduing them (force). Same for hospital security. If MN DOH wants some expert to treat these people, then they need to put up 100% of the money to staff the position(s) to deal with the situation

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