When a man opened fire in a hospital in a suburb of Philadelphia, shot his social worker and injured his psychiatrist, Dr. saved his life and probably the lives of others, pulled out a gun and shoot the patient.
If the decision of Dr. Lee Silverman was to build the office unusual violence in the hospital erupted Mercy Fitzgerald served as an occupational hazard more for the face of mental health at work, for example - and, experts say hospitals need to do more in order to . protecting
Nurses, social workers, aides, and other mental health professionals are much more likely to attack all workers, an occupational hazard in the best of times and by a persistent lack of funding for services is exacerbated mental health, the loss of thousands of psychiatric hospital beds and increasing use to temporarily accommodate offenders with mental illness from hospitals.
Ignoring the problem, many health care facilities have failed to create a safe working environment for employees, experts say violence in the workplace.
"Hospitals do not want the reputation of the nature of the wild west," said "try to minimize and to remain silent," said Dr. William Dubin, chairman of the department of psychiatry at the Medical Faculty of the University of Temple, the violence against mental health professionals wrote.
The vast majority of people without mental illness are not violent, Gabriel Nathan, a spokesman for emergency services in Montgomery County, a private psychiatric hospital outside of Philadelphia said.
"Unfortunately, as in all places there are outliers," he said, "That is why it is important to be aware and attentive."
An investigation revealed the Ministry of Justice 55 882 violent crimes against the working psychiatrists, social workers and other professionals in mental health from 2005 to 2009 four times more likely in this case generally attacked at work than workers, compiled by Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Independent experts said the number of attacks is almost certainly much higher, since violent incidents are grossly underestimated.
This reluctance often of the belief among mental health providers, the outbreaks of violence come with the territory, or afraid of what made responsible for the attack or reluctance to try someone for help. Manager Health and discourage often reported, experts say.
"Nobody wants the bad publicity that might, between reports that have suffered" Professor of the University of Maryland Jane Lipscomb, of the injuries in the health field studied attack, said. "This is a big obstacle."
In the case of violence, authorities said Richard Plotts, 49, killed his 53-year-old social worker, Teresa Hunt, and was during an appointment Silverman on July 24 at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital outside Philadelphia injured.
Silverman, who was grazed in the temple and thumb, crouched behind a chair, drew his pistol and fired several shots at Plotts, officials said. Plotts was charged with murder.
The psychiatrist has not spoken publicly about the shooting, but prosecutors have said they carried a gun for protection regularly.
No one opened the door at home Friday Silverman. A course taken by the child and at the front picture shows a door written bandaged head and thumb.
"My father is a hero," he said.
The shooting took place on the third floor of the hospital wellness center. Officials said there were no cameras in the doctor's waiting room or outside, or in the middle of the metal detectors.
A spokesman for the Merced, said the hospital that a policy that employees from having weapons is prohibited, evaluate their security procedures.
Mental health workers usually receive training on how to recognize when a patient is about to have become violent, and verbal techniques to prevent settlement. Some hospitals also train personnel for self-defense.
Mental health professionals are often particularly vulnerable to injury because their first instinct is to help, Dr. Michael Privitera, said psychiatrist at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.
"It is this conflict in your thinking at this time," said Privitera, editor of a book on workplace violence in mental health. "What you can do is to try to help the person make a click in my head -., You are in danger now - it takes time."
In rare cases, the attacks are fatal. Twenty people in positions of support for the health care, a category that psychiatric workers were killed at work from 2005 to 2009, contains according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Occupational Safety and Health at Work has published for the psychiatric security personnel and other health care workers, recommend metal detectors, closed wards, several stores, furniture in the treatment room crisis fixed on the ground, curved mirrors in motion intersections and a variety of other steps.
However, the guidelines are voluntary, and examine congressional investigators are widely used and whether they should be mandatory applied.