Site Map - Healthcare

04/24/2009 - Hospitals have stockpiled emergency supplies and medicines, have improved communication systems,conduct more frequent and higher quality disaster exercises, and better coordinate plans with communities. Those are among the findings of a new report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

03/24/2009 - A patient who was sexually assaulted by a nurse may pursue her negligent hiring lawsuit against the hospital where the assailant worked. The plaintiff argued that if the hospital had conducted a background check, it would have found that the nurse had been fired from previous jobs for assaulting female patients. A lower court held that the plaintiff could not sue the hospital because the nurse was officially employed by a third party. The California appellate court ruled that the hospital had sufficient supervisory authority over those working at the facility to be held liable for the nurse’s actions. (C.R. v. Tenet Healthcare Corporation, California Court of Appeal, No. B201220, 2009)

02/27/2009 - Virginia lawmakers have enacted a provision (formerly H.B. 403) that grants immunity to healthcare providers who deliver services during disasters. Barring gross negligence or willful misconduct, healthcare providers are immune from civil liability for any injury or wrongful death arising from care or from abandonment during a man-made or natural disaster.

01/26/2009 - States have made great progress in preparing for bioterrorism, but there’s a level of complacency developing as well. There’s much more to learn in the annual assessment of the country’s preparedness for bioterrorism attacks by the nonprofit Trust for America’s Health.

12/18/2008 - New guidelines released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services prioritize recipients of available vaccines and medicines in the event of an influenza pandemic.

10/27/2008 - Dorin's doomsday scenario of a fifth column of jihadist physicians isn't convincing and is of little value to security practitioners.

09/23/2008 - Financial institutions in the U.S. and the U.K. have plenty of lessons to learn from recent pandemic flu exercises, a new U.S. Treasury report says.

09/09/2008 - A pandemic may precipitate violence as the sick and their love ones rush to nearby medical facilities. Security professionals and facility managers need to plan in advance for such scenarios. (Online Exclusive)

08/28/2008 - Health care employees are more a threat to private medical records than outsiders, according to a number of recent surveys.

08/28/2008 - Substandard antimalarial drugs may cause a more drug-resistant strain of the virus to evolve.

08/28/2008 - Pandemic readiness—successes and setbacks.

08/27/2008 - The threat of a pandemic is real, but business planning is lagging. Find out what practices can help your company survive a worldwide influenza incident. Letters: Congressional attempts to limit the use of pretexting in investigations are debated.

08/26/2008 - Substandard antimalarials are not only killing the afflicted but are also producing highly resistant strains of the disease, reports a peer-reviewed scientific journal.