Hospital violence is on the rise, health agency warns

The shooting that left a doctor in critical condition Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore is only the latest example of a rising trend of violence in health care settings, experts say.

"Once considered safe havens, health care institutions today are confronting steadily increasing rates of crime, including violent crime," said an alert issued in June by the Joint Commission, a national accrediting agency.
A text message poll of 200 emergency room doctors, conducted by Truth On Call for msnbc.com on Thursday, found that 69 percent of doctors said violence in the health care setting is a growing concern; 71 percent said today's shooting was an anomaly.
Since 2004, the number of assaults, rapes and murders reported to the Joint Commission rose steadily, with the greatest number of reports in the last three years: There were 36 incidents nationwide in 2007, 71 in 2008 and 44 in 2009.
According to the Joint Commission’s voluntary reporting system, there were 286 assaults, rapes or homicides of patients and visitors at American health centers since 1995, with 180 of those acts occurring after 2007.
That number is likely far lower than the actual number of incidents because violence in health settings in often underreported, the group said.